


Carousel

by AngeliaDark



Series: Golden Stinger [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Bmblb, F/F, F/M, Golden Stinger, M/M, Onesided slight Ren/Jaune, Rosegarden if you squint, Sequel, Volume 6 compliant, boop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2019-10-10 13:22:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17426669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngeliaDark/pseuds/AngeliaDark
Summary: Ruby and Co. are on their way to Argus with hopes that they can make it to Atlas safely despite the loss of two core members of the family.  Naturally, nothing goes as planned and bonds are tested even harder than ever.





	1. Prologue

_**And it's all fun and games** _  
_**'Till somebody falls in love** _  
_**But you've already bought the ticket** _  
_**And there's no turning back now** _

 

 

Ruby perused the train station shops, somewhat thankful for the brief solitude to get her thoughts together.

It had been two weeks since that horrible night, and nobody was really any better recovered from it.  Ruby was only grateful Blake had been spared the bulk of everything, and nobody was willing to say much more about it all than they had to.  Not yet.  It was difficult enough having her accept the fact that Emerald and Mercury were a part of the team now, and having to come up with SOMETHING to explain Jaune's absence was nerve-wracking as it was.

She was grateful to the Faunus from Menagerie helping the Mistral people with the cleanup of Haven, because after all that everyone involved in that school needed rest, sleep, and comforting company.  Ruby was so happy to have Blake back with her, but it was so bittersweet and for a number of reasons.

Weiss seemed to be taking the lead role of fence-mender between Blake and Yang, something Ruby felt shamed to say she wasn't emotionally up for.  For months, she had thought about what everyone would do, what they woulds say when they were back together, but now...after all that...

After Salem.

After Jaune.

After Haven...

She felt so alone.

She brushed her fingers over a scarf, loathing the juxtaposition of wanting alone time and hating being alone.  Ren and Nora were building a new bridge with Emerald and Mercury as team members, Oscar refused to leave Qrow's side like a frightened child, and Weiss and Yang were being the ones to fill Blake in.  And although they had a shared experience over Haven, Ruby simply felt like they wouldn't quite understand how she was feeling.

During their travels to Mistral, Jaune had been Ruby's co-leader and partner, having a shared connection of losing Pyrrha in different ways, yet not telling the other just how badly they were suffering.  Almost every night Ruby relived the moment she saw Pyrrha's heart pierced with Cinder's arrow, having been just a literal second too late.  And as much as she thought she knew Jaune's pain at losing his partner, his fight with Ren that one night truly showed the depths of his suffering in a way she could never hope to understand.

She wasn't even sure Ren fully understood, but enough so that he was taking much broader steps in trying to make Emerald and Mercury feel as welcome as possible into their broken family, having finally begun seeing what Jaune saw in them earlier - scared kids that just needed support and care.

Not just in their own small team niche; Yang and Mercury seemed to have found common ground, as well as Weiss and Emerald.  Blake (and Sun) were slowly but surely opening themselves to hearing the former opposition out to what they had to say and their reasons for doing it, and at very least the air was amicable now between everyone.

It wasn't like she COULDN'T talk to them.  Emerald and Mercury certainly knew more than all of them of the horrors Salem could commit, being that they had been in that horrible place longer, but she didn't want to bring them back to a dark place now that they'd found some light.  Ruby DID think about asking Oscar for some time with Ozpin to discus things, but something held her back from that too. 

Qrow, same story.

She sighed, dropping her arms and turning to head back to the waiting area to see if Blake had returned from saying her goodbyes, hoping for the thousandth time that Ren was right in saying that Jaune would come back to them.

...gods, at this point, she'd take talking to Tyrian.  At least he made good strawberry-mint tea.

She only knew she was mentally back with the others when Qrow put a hand to her shoulder and asked if she was ready to go.  She gave him a brave smile and nodded.

"As ready as we'll ever be," she said, grabbing her bag and heading to the platform with everyone.

 _'Please,'_ she mentally prayed, _'please let this trip go uneventful.'_

She REALLY should have known better.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 1

"I'm just saying, LEMN sounds best!  We should go with that one, at least it's a color!"

"No way.  REBN is better.  LEMN is something you suck on."

"You would know, wouldn't you?"

Ren massaged his temples as Emerald and Mercury bickered back and forth over the 'new team name', something he was SURE to be done with ages ago with the war between JNRR and RNJR.  Nora wasn't helping at all, being indecisive in supporting both while he honestly hated both.  Between 'lemon' and 'reuben', he was close to going with something that WASN'T a color just to be a rebel.

"...not to mention REBN is too close to RWBY.  It's like we're jacking their name."  Mercury ducked at the paper ball Emerald tossed at his head.  

"No one has a monopoly on team names, Merc.  LEMN makes more sense, we're going with LEMN."  They both looked at Ren for affirmation, and Ren now knew how Jaune and Ruby must have felt hearing him and Nora yammer on about it for weeks.  He glanced at Nora, who looked like she couldn't bring herself to choose between the two and was also looking to him for a decision.  Being the new team leader, and all.

"....didn't Weiss says something about teams being superfluous at this point?" he countered hopefully.  The other three just stared in silence.

"...so we're agreed, it's LEMN."

"No the hell it is NOT!"

Ren threw his hands in the air and turned to stare out the window, tuning it out and letting Nora deal with the decision-making.  He briefly toyed with the idea of making her the team leader, but it was too late for THAT.  The other three had wordlessly agreed that HE was to pick up where Jaune left off after leaving, with or without his input. 

He supposed he WAS the new strength in the team, albeit the Semblance-fueled emotional kind.  It still took a lot of his own meditation to make a state of mind to keep that strength for everyone else, and with it came a LOT of self-reflection and reliving of memories he'd rather keep buried.

It started backwards with seeing Jaune suffering back at Salem's castle, hearing the screams of pain personified. Witnessing a Deathstalker tail burst from Jaune's back, spraying him and Nora with blood and bits of skin. Seeing Tyrian claiming Jaune as one of 'his own' and carrying him off, making Ren feel like he would never see his leader again.

Jaune returning three days later, just CHANGED. Different in the way he stood, moved, and later, spoke. Feeling justified in keeping his distance out of fear of the unknown, but overwhelming guilt at the pain he was putting Jaune through.

The realization after far too late that the bulk of it stemmed from deep-buried jealousy.

Tyrian's claim to have never broken someone's heart hit him harder than anything else in the realization of his own emotional provocation. An unwelcome answer to why he felt a searing heat in his chest every time he saw Tyrian become affectionate toward Jaune, especially when it was out of genuine care instead of perverse desire.

Seeing Jaune's reciprocation made it even worse, watching with painful realization that his former leader had truly fallen in love with a mentally-unstable, homicidal Faunus.

Purely circumstantial, Ren bitterly thought. All because Tyrian was the only one to treat Jaune normally as someone who devoted himself and trusted Jaune completely.

Ren could see it himself back in Haven, when Jaune was changing again. Making the air thick with that oppressive miasma that had been found in Salem's castle as he began losing himself in front of everyone. And then Tyrian got up from having his goddamn tail ripped from his back, almost dying of blood loss, and stopped whatever had been about to happen.

Then Jaune came back to them. Put Tyrian's tail back in place. Went down to check and make sure Yang was okay. And then he and Tyrian vanished.

Every day, every hour, Ren and the others checked their scrolls for Jaune's signal only to see that it was either completely offline or in ghost mode. Ren suspected it was the latter. If they had treated Jaune differently because of a Grimm appendage, then what would they think of him after seeing him almost give in to the Grimm entirely?

Ruby was the one to make the decision to not go looking for him, to give him some time to figure things out. Everyone agreed, and Mercury put in that not only could Jaune take care of himself, but Tyrian wouldn't leave Jaune's side for anything in the world. Everyone knew their destination, and they would meet again at some point or the other.

“Hey.”

Ren blinked, looking up and seeing Nora looking at him worriedly. She nibbled her lip and took his hand, squeezing it tightly as seemed to be the new team gesture of saying _'ground yourself, I'm here for you'_. He gave her a tiny smile and squeezed it back.

“I'm okay,” he said. “...are you?”

Nora's eyes shifted to the side, contemplatively and uncharacteristically quiet for the moment. “...I will be,” she finally said. “We will be.” She was still for a moment before leaning into his side, her head resting on his shoulder. “Ren—“

What she was about to say was interrupted by something hard and violent shaking the train, making everyone look up sharply at attention. The four of them—Emerald and Mercury had retired to the other end of the room to get into Emerald's food stash—looked at one another and immediately grabbed weapons to hurry out, almost running into Oscar en route.

“What's going on?” Ren demanded, but Oscar had no time to answer before the sound of a large Grimm roaring had them set on their next mission, it seemed. Ren ran to the end of the car and opened the door, everyone else following and climbing up the rails to see team RWBY plus Qrow were already engaging in combat.

“WHY is it always SOMETHING!?” Nora griped, jumping up and starting to open fire at the Grimm Ren remembered from Professor Port's class as 'Manticore'. Hardy from the tough northern winters, vicious with claws AND teeth, capable of flight and fireball projection, and unusually intelligent, he knew they had a fight on their hands.

He and the rest of his team immediately set out to taking out whatever they could, taking heed of the fireballs the Manticores spat at them, keeping on their guard until Ren noticed all of them started to slowly hang back in the air and let the train pass.

“....what are they doing?” Nora asked, and just a moment later heard Oscar's voice scream out,

“TUNNEL!!!”

A quick look over saw an approaching tunnel in the mountain, and everyone immediately went for the car ladders, just barely managing to get through in time.

Ren ran through the carts, meeting Ruby and her team halfway as they made their way to the caboose, where Oscar was tending to one of the Huntsmen from earlier, whose arm was visibly and painfully broken.

Qrow shoved past all of them, beelining for the man. “I said—“ he snarled, grabbing Dudley and shoving him against the door, “—to turn those damn things OFF!”

Dudley yelped, glaring at Qrow. “Those THINGS are keeping us alive!” he shouted back.

“Us, sure, but they're putting the passengers in danger—“

Ren and Ruby looked at one another and back at the passengers who were in varying states of panic and fear before Ruby walked over to Qrow and gently nudged him away from Dudley, turning to the hired Huntsman.

“Please, just shut off the turrets.” She held up her hand when he appeared ready to argue with her. “Trust us. We know what we're doing.” She looked at his arm, her heart clenching with knowing if Jaune were here, he could have helped heal it, but reached back into her small backpack and took out a sling to at least help him out while Weiss made a glyph around his arm to keep it steady while Ruby wrapped it up and helped put it in the sling.

Dudley grit his teeth, but conceded with a sharp nod. “Fine,” he bit out, the glyph around his arm vanishing when he had it secure.

“Ren,” Nora piped up, “could you use your Semblance to mask everyone on this train? With the guns off and emotions hidden, they might lose track of us.”

Ren made a quick calculation of just how many passengers were on this train, brow furrowing slightly. “I've never attempted to affect this many people,” he said. “If I had...” The unspoken _'if I had Jaune here with me'_ was left in the air, but he smothered it down.

“It's a long-shot, but...” Mercury turned to Emerald. “If you could maybe make him 'feel' fewer people on the train, it might reach out more in the end, y'know?”

“That's not a bad idea,” Qrow muttered before, glancing over at Oscar and seeing a soft gleam of gold that indicated Ozpin had taken over. Ozpin walked up to the young group, looking mildly contrite.

“I'm afraid there's one complication...” he said, gesturing to the Relic at his belt. “The Grimm are also attracted to this.”

Everyone stared at him in disbelief for a stunned beat.

“Oz, are you serious?” Qrow hissed.

“Why wouldn't you tell us that?!” Yang demanded.

Ozpin had the decency to look ashamed, at least. “I—“

“It doesn't matter right now!” Ruby piped up. “Every second we're on this train, we're putting everyone else in danger.” She looked over to Ren's team. “Get the passengers to the front cars. You'll still mask the emotions and kill the turrets...” She glanced away, her hands flexing slightly with resolution. “...we just can't come with you.”

She powered through even with the others looking ready to protest. “If we cut the back cars with us and the Relic on them, WE can deal with the Grimm. You just make sure the rest of the train makes it safely to Argus.”

Everyone stood in silence for a long moment before Ren took a deep breath and nodded, letting it out slowly. “Only if you promise you'll meet us there,” he said, the unspoken fear of losing another of his team family thick in his voice. Ruby nodded in understanding.

“I promise.”

Ren hurriedly ran to the other cars, instructing everyone to move as packed as they could to the front cars with Nora keeping watch for stragglers and Emerald keeping an eye on the signal on her scroll. The light that passed into the windows let them know they were out of the tunnels, and the plan was about to be underway.

Mercury looked out the window to see that the numbers had regrouped and the Sphinx Grimm was making a call for more, his hands clenching into the windowpane before turning to Emerald. “I'm going to help them,” he said. “I can at least keep them away from the separation point.”

Emerald looked between the other two on her team, her scroll, and him, internally screaming NO at the idea of separating the party further, but knowing that with Ren possibly passing out from Semblance exertion, he'd need her help to keeping that from happening as much as team RWBY needed help with the Grimm in making the promise for everyone to meet together a reality.

“....don't let them fuck up your legs,” she finally said. Mercury snorted and squeezed her shoulder before opening the car door and jumping across to the other just before Blake cut the cars.

“What are you doing?!” Blake demanded before remembering to cut the car.

“Risking my ass for some reason,” Mercury shot back before launching himself up onto the car. “Thank me later.”

Blake glowered at him, still completely not used to having him or Emerald around, but jumped up after him and prepared for combat as Ruby gave the signal for Ren to start masking.

Everyone began their counter against the Grimm, giving little hesitation to Mercury's presence since one extra pair of hands (or metal legs) was nothing to complain about. It made things easier in taking down the Sphinx when Blake and Yang used Gambol Shroud to pin it down, and Mercury landed a diving kick on the head to keep it pinned while Weiss froze its wings. Ruby and Qrow shattered the wings with shots from their respective guns before forming their scythes and speeding in to deal the finishing blow.

The Sphinx lurched up in a death throe, tossing Mercury off of it and forming a fireball just before it was sliced in half, destroying the tracks ahead of it. Weiss quickly redirected Mercury from being thrown into the mountain to onto the train car, and then used a gravity glyph to keep them steady as the cars derailed off the track and down the mountainside, crashing into the snow.

It took several long moments for everyone to come to their senses and dig themselves out of the snow. “Is everyone okay?” Qrow called out.

“I'm fine!” Weiss spoke up, looking around as Yang helped both Ruby and Mercury up out of the snow.

“Yeah,” Blake muttered, brushing snow out of her cat ears.

“Still alive!”

Everyone looked up at the unfamiliar voice as a figure stepped out of the train, staring hard at her and her companion.

“That sure was a close one, huh?” an old lady chirped. “Good thing I had this gentleman to help keep an old soul safe.”

“Really, madame, you flatter me,” her companion said, stepping out after her and lowering a large furred hood, golden eyes gleaming at everyone. “Hello again!”

Ruby recovered her voice first, stepping forward. “...Tyrian?” she asked weakly as though hardly believing what she was seeing. It truly was the Faunus there, albeit dressed much differently. He was wearing thicker boots and an almost oversized fur coat and a pair of gloves, his hair down from its usual braid. He helped the elderly woman down from the crashed platform as Ruby walked over, looking at him and past him into the car.

“...I cant believe you're here...” she said numbly. Mercury stepped over next to her, frowning.

“...isn't Jaune with you?" he asked. “...where is he?”

Tyrian's eyes seemed to dim slightly, his shoulders slumping as he turned and looked in the direction of the train's current path. Everyone else's eyes followed his, the unspoken conclusion all coming to mind.

Jaune was still on board the Argus Limited.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Reuben (REBN) is a reference to the Tribe of Reuben from the Rastafarian Twelve Tribes of Israel, all twelve of which, coincidentally, has references of associated tribe color and body part, function, birth month, etc. For the Tribe of Reuben, the color and body part happens to be 'silver' and 'eyes'.


	3. Chapter 2

"I still can't believe they haven't caught on yet."

Jaune rolled his eyes and tugged Tyrian back into their small bunk space.  "Peering in won't keep the profile low," he said, being sure to keep his voice soft in case Blake could pick up on his tone and recognize it.  It was hard enough keeping just enough distance to prevent Ren from sensing them as it was, even with Jaune wanting to keep a close eye on them.  He sat back on his cot, adjusting his armor to make himself more comfortable.  "How are you holding up?"

Tyrian was bound in an oversized fur coat that he kept folded closed the further north they rode.  The Faunus was by no means a snowbird as it was, and had three more points against him for being a Vacuo native, a scorpion Faunus, and now more recently having horrible arthritic-like pain in the base of his tail that was exacerbated by the cold.  Even with Jaune's Semblance, there was only so much that could be done after a dismemberment as violent as his.  In all honesty, Tyrian was thankful he was still able to use it, even if the poison ducts didn't quite work as well anymore.

Jaune could amplify his aura on especially cold or rainy nights when the pain was enough to keep him awake, but that was the extent Tyrian allowed.  He refused to become dependent on Jaune's Semblance and took precautions to keep the pain to a minimum himself, starting with dressing warmer and wrapping the base of his tail in warm cloth before bed.  The fact that they were headed to Argus, let alone Atlas, was cause for some small sense of dread for the future.

"Well enough," Tyrian assured, giving Jaune a smile as he adjusted his coat.  "The temperature COULD be higher on this train, but going through northern Anima is cold no matter what the season."  He settled back quietly, sipping the hot tea Jaune bought when the refreshment cart rolled by.  "...but how are YOU faring?"

Jaune gave him a glance from the corner of his eye, the ring of red around the pupil barely visible unless one LOOKED but still there.  The younger sighed and turned to look out the window instead.  "Well enough," he repeated from Tyrian.  Too much to say concerning his team, his friends, what happened, why he had to leave...too much to unpack right at the moment, and Tyrian understood it well enough to leave 'well enough' alone.  Jaune kept his stare out the window, somewhat enjoying the serenity of the norther Anima mountains, when he suddenly jerked upright, movement under his cloak giving Tyrian indication that his tail was almost unfurled.

"What is it?" Tyrian demanded, putting his tea down just moments before a jostle from the end of the train shook their own car.  Jaune threw open the window and looked outside toward the back of the train, swearing loudly when he saw a pride of Manticores swarming in.  

"Grimm," Jaune said shortly, going to the hall door and looking out, seeing the tail end of Ren's coattails leave the car to go and see what was happening.  Another, louder and harder disturbance rocked the train again and as the passengers began crying out in fear, Jaune felt his vision go fuzzy.  "Oh gods, not now..."

Tyrian pulled him back into the room, covering Jaune's ears with his own hands to mute the passengers' cries in an attempt to stave off some of what Jaune called 'Grimm sickness'; he likened it to the motion sickness he used to get, only now it came when there was human negativity around him that he felt pull his soul back down to that drowning pit of blackness from before.  It was easier to stave off in small numbers but in a train with almost a hundred passengers...

He forced himself to focus on his breathing and on Tyrian's presence until a hollow dimness enveloped his senses, the panic around him dying down enough for him to look up and see that they had entered a tunnel.  He sat up, shaking off the residual darkness in the edges of his vision before nodding to Tyrian and pulling his hood up and heading down the cars to see what was going on and if his intervention was needed.

The two stopped in the cart second from the caboose, hiding from view as they listened in to Ruby's plan and the others' input, frowning to himself.

"What's wrong?" Tyrian asked.  

Jaune shook his head.  "Emerald's help would only work in the long run," he said quietly.  "And it wouldn't be nearly as effective if he's not truly covering everyone onboard."  He turned to Tyrian, his eyes hardening.  "He's going to need my help."

Tyrian glanced between the Huntsmen in front of him and the people in back.  "And you think you're ready now?" he queried.  He patiently waited as Jaune weighed his options and thoughts.

"...I don't have a choice," he said.  "Unless we lose track of all of the Grimm...just one of them will bring more to Argus, and I CAN'T let that happen.  I can keep Ren amplified for the entire rest of the way there if need be, no problem."  He turned to look at Tyrian, a vague worry in his eyes.  "...but at the same time I have to know that Ruby and her team will be okay."

The unspoken implications were not lost on Tyrian at all, the Faunus returning the same look to Jaune, albeit with deeper worry.  "...are you certain?" he asked.  "Your return may not be as welcome as you hope."

Jaune's jaw tightened as he nodded.  "I know," he said.  "But even so, Argus is peaceful and well-protected.  It's the only populated place in Anima I'd actually be comfortable in."  He took Tyrian's hand in his own, squeezing it.  "But Ruby and the others will have almost double the chance of surviving if you're there to help them.  Ren's team needs a shield.  Ruby's needs a sword.  And we'll meet back up in Argus before you know it."

Tyrian sighed, squeezing Jaune's hand back.  "I know that," he said.  "But not soon enough."  He leaned back as Ren's team hurried past them, calling for passengers to head to the front of the cars.  "Be safe."

Jaune leaned in, giving Tyrian a quick kiss.  "Be strong."  He let go of the Faunus's hand and followed the traffic of the crowd, fighting to keep his own self as calm as possible as he searched for Ren, not noticing Mercury double back after team RWBY en route.

He finally sensed their aura on the roof of one of the cars as he felt the back half of the train detach from the engine, finding an unblocked car door and quickly climbing out.  

It was as he suspected; perhaps only a third of the train was feeling any effect from Ren's Semblance as Emerald tried to cut the numbers down with her own.  Jaune squinted to see Oscar reining back a Manticore that was trying to fly further down, and quickly jumped up to the car, hurrying toward Ren.

Nora spotted him first and instinctively took aim with the demand of who he was dying on her lips when the wind blew his cape back to show his still-sheathed sword.  He didn't have time to give a proper greeting before making his way to Ren and gently moving Emerald aside, steadying himself and putting his hand on Ren's shoulder, activating his own Semblance.

Immediately, all sign of human emotion was gone from Jaune's notice as Ren's Semblance spread over the entire train, clearing his own focus twenty fold and finally shutting that Grimm beckoning up since he'd entered the train station.  He let out a sign of relief, keeping the amplification up until even he couldn't sense a hint of Grimm activity anywhere around them.

After spending five minutes making sure nothing untoward was coming his way, he slowly took his hand from Ren's shoulder, letting Ren taper it off so everyone would ease out of masked emotions and into a steady calm.  Ren let out a heavy breath, looking up to thank Emerald and felt his voice almost literally catch when he saw Jaune instead.

The awkward silence around the four ensued before Emerald spoke up.  "It's getting colder," she said, looking paler even with her new jacket.  "We should head inside to make sure everyone's okay."

The other three nodded and quietly and carefully climbed down to the car doors to slip inside the last car where it would be less crowded, and were greeted with thankful passengers and hot food and drink pushed their way.  The conductor over the intercom announced that they should be arriving in Argus before nightfall, and also gave his thanks to the Huntsmen and Huntresses for their help, extending a refund for their tickets courtesy of the station.

When the hype died down and the passengers began settling in from exhaustion, Ren, Nora, Jaune, and Emerald finally had a moment to themselves; though the moment stretched on as no one knew what to really say.

Emerald broke the ice first with, "Where's Tyrian?" she asked.  Jaune clenched his hands around his hot coffee mug, his eyes lowering quietly.  

"...he stayed behind with Ruby and the others," he said.  "They'll need help, especially since their half of the train won't make it to Argus."  He paused, looking around.  "...where's Mercury?"

Nora did the same.  "Yeah, I thought he'd be back here with us."  Emerald's cheeks pinkened.

"He...had the same idea," she replied, holding her cup of hot chocolate tightly.  "That they might need help.  It's just us."

Jaune sighed softly, a hint of a smile on his lips.  "....better for them, then," he said.  "He grew up in an area like this, and Tyrian is a survivalist by nature.  The others will be alright."  He looked around at everyone before settling on Ren.  "........"

Ren's sentiment mirrored his own.  "........."

Nora looked between them before sighing.  "Just kiss already."

Emerald almost spewed hot chocolate over them as both Ren and Jaune turned red, the tension broken, at least when Jaune let out a nervous laugh that the others couldn't help but catch onto.  The laughter all but turned to tears as the past several weeks apart finally caught up to them, piling onto the drama before that, and the four of them stayed huddled together in that corner of the train car for the rest of the way to Argus.


	4. Chapter 3

"Great...this is just GREAT...!" Yang griped as she pulled at Bumblebee, trying to wedge it out of the snowdrift.  "We're stranded....we lost a third of our party...and we've gained a defenseless old lady-!"  She yelped when she topped backwards onto the snow as her bike dislodged and fell beside her.  

The 'defenseless old lady' in question huffed as Tyrian escorted her out of the train.  "My name is Maria Calavera, and I'm NOT defenseless!  I'm just a little hard of hearing.  And blind without my eyes.  That are in desperate need of repair..."  She tapped the side of her eyewear, the gears and slots clicking pathetically.  "....okay, I'm starting to see your point."

Qrow groaned, rubbing his still-sore head.  "Yang, knock if off, will ya?  If we lose our cool now, we'll just be inviting more Grimm."

"Does that even matter?" Blake piped up.  "Apparently, we've been attracting Grimm since we left Haven."

"Oh, how HOW can we forget that?" Yang threw in, glowering at Oscar but in relation to Ozpin.  "What happened to 'no more lies and half-truths'?"

Oscar looked just as irritated as the others, giving himself a mental scowl.  "Yeah.  I think it's time we got an explanation-"  The change in aura was almost strained this time, like Ozpin snatching a microphone from someone to make a point.

"I did not LIE to you," he said thickly.

"Well, you certainly didn't tell us everything about the Relic," Weiss said.  

Ozpin raised his hands placatingly.  "Please, now is not the time-"

"No, we're PAST that!" Yang snapped.  "I wanna know why you're still not telling us everything!"

"Having a Grimm homing beacon strapped to us seems like it should be the FIRST thing to know about it," Mercury put in, crossing his arms.  "If we're risking our asses to get it to Atlas, we should've at LEAST been told that to prepare for more encounters."

Tyrian flicked his eyes between Ozpin and the group, seeing Maria do the same; despite him being in the know, he didn't have privy to THIS particular information, or the slight extra strain put on the group dynamic.  Qrow DID have a point, however, and that was even with the Sphinx and Manticore pride down, there were more that was sure to be around.

"It IS true that the Grimm are attracted to the Relics," Ozpin said, sounding like he was carefully choosing his words, which Tyrian more than caught onto.  "It's faint, but undeniable.  I believe it might have something to do with their origins, but I'm not entirely sure."  He folded his hands behind his back.  "Regardless, I feared that making you all aware would only add anxiety and negativity.  It seemed like the safer option."

"Oh bullshit," Mercury muttered, rolling his eyes.

"You know, I'm getting real tired of other people choosing what's best for me," Weiss concurred.

"Is that why you chose to lie to everyone about Lionheart too?" Yang demanded. 

Ozpin leveled a glare back.  "YES, as a matter of fact!"  He turned on heel in the snow and began pacing as he spoke.  "I believed the kingdom of Mistral deserved better than the truth.  And I believe Leonardo deserved to be remembered for his lifetime of service, and not the unfortunate missteps he took in his final years."

"MISSTEPS?" Yang all but shouted, staring after him in disbelief as she and the others walked after him.

"More than just 'missteps' there," Mercury said, scowling.  "Deliberation in action, more like it.  Don't forget, I was actually THERE-"

"What Leonardo did was reprehensible, I'm NOT here to argue differently!" Ozpin cut in.  "But does one lapse in judgement truly negate all his good?  Do we not all have regrets?"  His eyes flicked to Tyrian for a moment before going straight in front of him. 

"...you may have met Professor Lionheart, but you never met the man he was before Salem found him."

"Look," Yang said, tempering down her tone a little, "we're supposed to be in this TOGETHER.  You can TRUST us, we're not going to turn our backs on you-"

"DO YOU REALLY THINK LEO WAS THE FIRST!?"

Ozpin's voice echoed through the air, the pain in his exclamation making everyone almost flinch.  His shoulders were hunched and tight, almost shaking.  "...that he didn't say those EXACT same words to me?"  He turned around, his eyes looking more like fragile glass than steel as he looked between everyone almost pleadingly.  "I'm sorry, but you have to understand that my behaviors are backed by experience.  I'm not saying that I think I have reason that you will betray me, I'm saying that there are reasons for the things that I do, the secrets I keep, the REASON I..."  He trailed off, his hand and eyes going for a Relic that wasn't normally there.  Everyone saw a genuine flash of panic in his eyes and face as he looked around.  "...where's the Relic?"

"...right here."

Everyone turned to see Ruby holding it up, having concealed it in the fold of her cape.  "...it got scattered in the crash."

Ozpin's panicked look didn't subside; if anything, he looked more desperate as he held his hand out.  "...please, hand it over," he said. 

Ruby leaned back ever-so-slightly, her hands holding it tighter as she lowered her eyes in disappointment.  "...so all those times you talked about having faith in humanity...that was just for everyone else?"

To Ozpin's credit, he wilted in the face of her disappointment in him.  His shoulder sagged, lowering his own eyes.  "...that's not what I meant to suggest," he said earnestly before his guard from earlier came back up.  "Miss Rose, the Relic is a powerful item, and I simply feel as though it is my burden to bear."

Literally no one believed his statement, and Ruby did not relinquish her hold on the Relic.  "But...YOU said it couldn't do anything right now," she said.

"Why does it matter who carries it?" Blake put in. 

Ozpin's eyes hardened again, stepping forward.  "I need you to listen to m..."  His eyes went wide as his body shook slightly, his outstretched hand wavering as a visible tug-of-war battled over his visage. 

"...Oz...?" Qrow queried, stepping forward with concern.

"....hurry...." Oscar's tone bit out, sounding horribly strained and eyes pleading.  "He's...trying to stop you...!"

Yang half-shielded Ruby, eyes narrowing.  "Stop her from what?" she demanded.  Oscar's fight to remain in control seemed to worsen, looking almost pained.

"He's afraid.....you'll find out....what he's...hiding...!"  He gasped, falling to his knees in the snow, the others reaching for their weapons on reflex.  He forced himself upright, shakily reaching toward Ruby as his eyes contradicted his movements.  "...her name...is Jinn...!" he strained, the last bit of his control wavering.  "...say her name to summon her...!"

"...her NAME...?" Ruby repeated, feeling a thrum of SOMETHING in the air kick up around them in preparation for...

....for what, exactly?"

She looked at the lamp in her hands, the whispering pulse almost excited.  "....Jinn....?"

Everything froze. 

EVERYTHING. 

Even TIME.

"...what...?" Qrow murmured as Mercury reached out and touched a snowflake in front of his face, his eyes wide in disbelief.  Everyone looked around and back to Ruby, who let go of the Relic when it glowed and began emitting a soft smoky blue mist and levitated away from her grasp.

The smoke swirled and expanded, taking a vague humanoid shape before forming solid features of a woman, golden chains appearing around her blue wrists and waist.  Everyone gaped in complete disbelief, even Tyrian, as she stretched out and smiled at them.

"Wonderful!" she breathed, looking down at Ruby as the one who had spoken her name.  "Tell me, what knowledge do you seek?"

"Holy shit..." Mercury muttered, still amazed to be feeling this level of awe after everything else he'd witnessed.  He looked around at everyone, unable to verbally scream 'ARE YOU FUCKING SEEING THIS!?' but figured from everyone else's expression that they were thinking the same thing; including Tyrian, to his surprise. 

The Faunus stepped forward from Maria, who was tapping her mechanical eyes as though trying to fix a glitch she was seeing, his golden eyes shining with absolute wonder.  "...what ARE you?" he demanded in reverence.  The woman smiled, amused.

"I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light to aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge.  I have been graced with the ability to answer three questions every one-hundred years...though I won't count THAT as a question," she added playfully.  "So you're in luck, as I am still able to answer-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Ozpin's tone snapped, almost shattering the serene stillness of the clearing.   The uncharacteristic undone tone had everyone turn to stare at him.

"...two questions this era."

Ozpin lowered his head as everyone's expression dropped, having realized that he had LIED to them, to their faces, about the use of the Relic.  Tyrian and Maria, with less context, looked at the others, seeing absolute betrayal on Qrow's face especially.

Jinn smiled, crossing her arms.  "It's a pleasure to see you again, old man," she said knowingly.  Ozpin clenched his hands into the snow, disregarding her.

"Ruby...please..."  His conviction in his voice was almost choking as he looked up at her.  "Don't."

Qrow shoved the feeling of betrayal down at seeing his most respected friend and leader in such a state, turning to Ruby.  "Hey-"  He cut off, immediately having Myrtenaster at his throat, Blake's hand on her weapon, Yang's fists raised, and Mercury's stance shifted in preparation to go at a moment's notice.  He quickly shut up, looking between all of them and their conviction to keep ANYTHING from happening to Ruby.  He raised his hands and shifted back, looking to his niece.  "...do whatever you think is right, kiddo," he finally said before giving Ozpin an apologetic look.

Ruby looked at Ozpin for a brief moment, and felt the cold sting of betrayal dig deeper as she recounted everything that had happened to her and her team in the past couple months, of feeling that Ozpin would open up after everyone had experienced the wrath of Salem and having the fact that there was MORE crash back into her, all in a split second.  She turned to Jinn, her eyes like steel instead of silver. 

"Jinn.  What is Ozpin hiding from us?"

"NO!" 

Ruby jumped and whipped around, seeing Ozpin launch himself at her, a frightening expression on his face of desperation to do ANYTHING to stop her.  She gasped and raised her arms to shield herself-

Only to have him and everything else vanish.

She lowered her arms, looking around in fear of the sudden unknown.  "...what...?  Weiss?  Yang?!"  The white void seemed to spread forever, making her feel so small and so alone. 

But it didn't last long.

_"Once upon a time..."_

An entire world formed around her, around everyone else in their own private view, focusing on a large tower.

_"...there was a lonely tower..."_

The scene shifted to form a singular room.

_"...that sheltered a lonely girl..."_

An image of a beautiful girl with platinum blonde hair formed, showing her carefully arrange her hair and sigh softly and sorrowfully, turning in her seat to reveal a strangely familiar face. 

_"...named Salem."_

_*  *  *_

_"Locked away by her cruel father, Salem was a girl who desired but one thing.  Freedom."_

 

Ruby looked closer at Salem, noting the sadness on the girl's face.  Weiss saw loneliness, empathizing completely.

 

_"She lived in a time when kings and their kingdoms were plentiful, when men and women were capable of greatness, and magic was a gift from the gods that all could wield."_

 

Salem's hands glowed with a technicolor glimmer of power unlike any of them had seen, it seeming so natural like they could do it themselves.

 

_"Yet there she sat within her tower, until a legendary hero came to brave the challenges within the tower's walls."  
_

 

Qrow stepped back as the smoke formed a proud, powerful figure, stepping around him to look at his face and feeling like he KNEW it somehow.

 

_"The people of the lands knew him...as Ozma.  Unlike those who had come before, he was not driven by the prize of the young maiden's hand.  He fought only for righteousness.  And his pure heart and courageous soul prevailed."_

 

They saw him fight through the castle's defenses, race up the stairs, and burst through the door to Salem's tower.  Disbelief on Salem's face turned to thankfulness as the two ran out and began laying waste together to the remaining enemies.

 

_"They escaped the wretched fortress...and yet, something bound them together."_

 

Mercury didn't think he would ever see a look of love and softness on Salem's face before, nor did Tyrian for that matter.  The tentative bonding look between the two specters of the story was almost heartwarming.

 

_"Ozma had been ready to give his life for justice countless times, but now found a woman worth saving it for.  And Salem, to her surprise, found her freedom not in the outside world she had yearned for, but in the eyes of the man who had saved her.  The two fell deeply in love, planned adventures around the world, and lived happily ever after."_

 

The intense feeling of hope from everyone was quickly smothered down hard.

 

_"....or at least, that's what should have been.  Ozma, the infallible hero of legend, fell ill.  And where all the beasts and blades of the world had fallen short, a single sickness prevailed."_

 

Blake looked at Salem sobbing over an empty bed, Ozma's staff in her hands holding tightly like it was the last thing she had left in the world, hearing her murmur pleas of disbelief to the gods and seeing twin orbs of magic spiral before her in a perfectly-felt yingyang of life.

 

 

_“The gods, brothers of Light and Darkness, creation and destruction.  Salem prayed they would see the injustice that had befallen her love, and make things right.”_

 

Ruby felt a twinge of pity in her soul looking on at Salem's mourning, the scene sifting away and creating a new one, one of impossible beauty all around her of warmth and light.  Salem laid down an offering on the steps into a concealed crevice before ascending up the stairs with hope and bravery in her eyes.

_“The Domain of Light was a sacred place. It was here that the elder brother dwelled beside his fountain of life and creation. It was here...where mankind would fall to ruin.”_

 

Upon reaching the highest steps, a soft flutter of warm breeze made the leaves and flowers of a tree shimmer.  Beneath the tree was a pool of the clearest waters that looked like the sky itself poured into it.  And out of the pool emerged the God of Light.

Qrow felt unworthy to even look upon him, feeling the urge to fall to his knees and barely able to keep himself upright in order to look over what he was seeing.  He'd heard of Ozpin speak of the brother gods, but to actually SEE one, to KNOW he once walked this very planet...

They saw Salem prostrate herself before him, pleading for the return of Ozma; they heard the elder brother refuse, stating the balance of life and death.  Salem's disbelief turned to anger, giving everyone around a more familiar feel of knowing from her, and watched the elder banish her from his domain.

And still, Salem refused.

_“The God of Darkness. None dare to enter his home, as men knew what monstrosities emerged from his blackened pools of annihilation. And so you must understand the Dark Lord's surprise to find a lone woman kneeling before him.”_

 

The younger brother, Darkness, stole everyone's breath, seeing him form from his pools as though a mortal form was foreign to him.  Salem knelt before him, her fear being almost completely smothered by her conviction.

_“Salem understood it well. She told him of her loss, and professed that she knew only HE could answer her prayers....all while careful to make no mention of his elder.”_

 

Despite what everyone expected, they were amazed at the younger brother's kindness in her supposed faith in him, bringing Ozma back to the mortal plane.  That amazement was short-lived when the elder brother arrived.

Everyone felt the desire to run and hide when the brothers began fighting, destroying and reforming Ozma twice more as their fight turned to understanding of Salem's intentions and trickery.  Salem's anger reached new heights as she summoned her magic against them only to be thrown through a space in the world and plunged into Light's fountain of life.

News of her immortal punishment was unsurprising but still unwelcome, everyone having already seen how much she had suffered for the return of her love.

_“Salem was a prisoner once again. Her fruitless attempts to reunite with Ozma eventually became nothing more than acts of spite against the gods.  But perhaps the gods were not as powerful as they seemed. She had lied to them, turned them against one another. They...were fallible. If she were to turn humanity against Light and Darkness, then she could rid herself of their curse. Or at the very least....she could make them suffer.”_

 

Ruby could barely hold her own cries at bay, watching Salem stab herself through with no damage done but all the pain clearly felt.  Salem contemplated the sword, her thoughts visible on her face as Jinn said them, her expression turning to resolute anger as she threw the sword across the room.

 

_“Salem traveled from one kingdom to another, telling tales of how she stole immortality from the gods, welcomed any swordsman to cut her down, and demonstrated her powers. With the kings and queens in awe, she pulled them deeper into her scheme. She painted them pictures of a time when they would no longer have to watch their loved ones suffer and die, when they could claim the powers of their creators for themselves, and in turn, perfect their own designs.”_

 

The kingdoms were awed at her ability to take damage with no consequence, listening intently to her tales and promises, all of them following her lead to the god of Light's domain with all intention to fulfill what she had promised.

_“All they need to do was destroy their old masters. The gods had hoped that Salem would learn from her eternal curse...and she did. She learned that the hearts of men are easily swayed.”_

 

The gods confronted the army before them led by Salem.  At her signal, they all began attacking with their magic and weaponry, their bravado immediately turning to dread when the younger brother merely collected all of the magic into one mass in his palm.  As he contemplated it, Ruby felt an immediate tidal wave of absolute death wash over her, just seconds before the magic exploded outward.

When the light of the explosion faded, the army was gone and Salem remained, completely unharmed.  She looked at the desolation before proclaiming her return with a new army-

 

_**"You do not understand.  There is NO ONE left.  YOU are all that remains of humanity."** _

The elder brother lamented the loss of the planet's way of humanity before making his departure.  Salem's demands for him to return were met with soft scorn before the younger departed as well, shattering the moon in his wake.  Salem stared up at the ruin of the moon that reflected the ruin of the planet, falling to her knees and screaming in despair, rage, and sadness.

_“Once again, Salem was alone.  She cursed the gods. She cursed the universe. She cursed everything. Everything but herself.  She wandered the face of the planet awaiting a death that would never come...until fate led her back to the land of Darkness.”_

 

Ruby wanted nothing more than to pull Salem away from the pit, knowing exactly where this was going.

_“This was it...this HAD to be it. The Brothers Grimm, the pools of black that continued to give rise to horrific nightmares.  If the fountain of Life granted her immortality...then surely the pools of Grimm would finally take it away”_

 

Salem allowed herself to fall into the pool, her eyes closing as she calmly and fully awaited her death.

_“She was wrong."_

 

Qrow had to look away, not wanting to see the intent of the pools thrash and attempt to pull Salem to shreds while she was helpless to its assault, again being reminded horrendously of Jaune's not-so-kind fate to such effects.

 

_"This force of pure destruction could not destroy a being of infinite life. Instead, it created a being of infinite life with the desire for pure destruction.”_

 

Salem dug her way out of the thick pool, her skin and hair being stripped of life color and eyes red like Grimm's, all of her rage, despair, and hate amplified into something almost tangible.

_“And in time, she would find her adversary.”_

 

Everyone found themselves blissfully back in the white void they had been introduced to, seeing Ozma awaken in the same void and look around with confused curiosity.  His name being called had him turn and see the god of Light standing before him, telling him of the planet's fate and the offer to return to it to oversee the resurrection of the human race, holding out his hands and forming four distinct items.

_“ **Creation, destruction, choice, and knowledge, were the ideals upon which humanity was made. Now I leave them behind with the hopes that you may learn to remake yourselves.”**_

_“ **If brought together, these four Relics will summon my brother and I back to your world...and humanity will be judged. If your kind has learned to live in harmony with one another and set aside their differences, then we shall once again live among you, and humanity will be made whole again.”**_

_“ **But if your kind remains unchanged...if you demand our blessings while still fighting among yourselves, then humanity will be found irredeemable, and your world will be wiped from existence.”**_

_“ **Until your task is complete, you will reincarnate...but in a manner that insures you are never alone.”**_

 

Oscar looked at Ozma, feeling for the first time the true unbearable pain of the burden that had been placed upon the man, and now himself.  Ozma gently rejected the task, proclaiming his desire to see Salem again, and then despite Light's warning, immediately changed his mind.  His task accepted, the void faded into black.

_“And so, Ozma was reborn.”_

 

Suddenly awakening in the middle of a Grimm raid in complete disorientation was something Oscar could empathize with, watching as Ozma overtook the man with whom he had been paired with and taking up a sword to slay a Grimm.  The thankful man whom he had saved asked for his name.

"....he didn't know..." _  
_

 

_“Ozma had found himself in a world that was completely unfamiliar to him. Cities looked different. Creatures known as the Faunus bore fangs and claws and were locked away in cages, and without the blessing of the gods, no one could perform magic like mankind was once capable of.  No one but himself...and a woman known as The Witch.  During his years of travel, he heard the same frightened whispers that spoke of a terrifying sorceress who commanded dark powers in the wilds among the beasts and monsters. Ozma was convinced that this witch was Salem, and decided he had to see what she had become.”_

_“Call it magic, or call it something stronger, but in that moment, the two knew exactly who it was that stood before them.”_

 

Qrow saw their expressions turn from disbelief to simple KNOWING, the two approached one another and reached out, clasping their hands lovingly as though afraid the other was an illusion.

_“As Salem and Ozma recounted the events which had brought them back together, each withheld parts of their story. Salem, fearing Ozma would reject her, blamed the end of the world on the gods. Ozma, still unsure of where the truth lay, kept his task and the Relics a secret.  Though time passed and all seemed well, Ozma's conversation with the God of Light still lingered in his mind. He had found happiness, but mankind seemed more divided than ever before.”_

 

Salem have Ozma her solution.

**_“We could become the gods of this world.”_ **

_“The hears of men are easily swayed.”_

 

Seeing the spectrum of Ozma's full powers was awe-inspiring, and Yang could grudgingly see why the people of the land would see such a thing and proclaim them as gods upon the earth.

_“The two amassed a following. That following grew into a prosperous kingdom. And at the head of that kingdom blossomed...a family.”_

 

Seeing Salem full of such love for her four small daughters was almost too much for Mercury to bear.  He had always internally compared Salem on her worst days to his own father in terms of lovelessness and cruelty, but seeing that she WAS capable of love, that she truly and utterly cherished the family she had made with Ozma...

Ozma didn't seem to have the same perfect picture life that Salem had, wondering if the wars fought in his name were ethically right.  Salem assured him that humanity being brought together meant striking down those who were not a part of the whole.  Ozma looked out the window, the soul of his refection looking back with disbelief.

**_“What are we doing?”_ **

**_“This isn't what he asked of me...”_ **

 

Salem's query was interrupted by her eldest daughter rushing in and displaying true magic, her expression adoring and hopeful.  Ozma's however, was not.

_“It was a miracle. Their children could perform magic. But what should have been a joyous occasion was short-lived. Ozma told Salem everything. The true reason the God of Light had brought him back, the Relics that lay scattered around the world, and the day of judgement he had been told to prepare for.”_

**_“Don't you see? None of that matters anymore! Why spend our lives trying to redeem these humans when we can replace them with what they will never be?”_**

 

Ozma's expression said it all; and him leading his daughters toward the castle's exit was interrupted by Salem's appearance.  The idea that Ozma had attempted to take her children from her seemed to be the breaking point of the well that kept her destructive hatred at bay as she attacked him.

Weiss felt like a small child again, watching parents fight with ferocity that was meant to truly commit harm to one another, having horrendous flashbacks of her own childhood before her mother completely shut down. 

In the end, the castle was destroyed, the children gone, and Ozma dragging himself away from a pool of his own blood, clearly dying without Salem's help.  Salem stalked over and kicked him to his back, staring down at him in betrayal and heartbreak hidden behind the hatred.

**_“We finally had freedom.”_ **

His final words were cut off by a blast of her magic.

_“Thus began a painful cycle of death and rebirth for Ozma. Some lives were spent in mourning, others spent attempting to forget it all. But no matter what, his mind would eventually return to the task he had been burdened with.  And as the centuries wore on, Ozma began to learn the importance of living WITH the souls with which he had been paired.”_

 

Oscar felt familiarity with this soul, seeing everything play out before his family that Ozma was taking care of, and wondered if this was before or after a complete merger of souls.  

_“But no matter where or how he lived, her presence was always felt.  If humanity ever had a chance of being united, one thing was clear...”_

“He had to destroy Salem.”  Ruby looked on at Ozma defending his home from the attacking Grimm, her heart at her feet at what all she had seen.

_“Knowing he could never rid the world of her through any mortal means, Ozma sought out the power of the Relics. Armed with my knowledge, he believed he could fulfill his promise to the God of Light.”_

 

Everyone could see each other back in the white void, but didn't care, honing in on Ozma's new incarnation summoning Jinn.

**_“Where are the other Relics?”_ **

_“He asked me his questions.”_

**_“What powers do they possess?”_ **

_“And although I gave him my answers...”_

**_“How do I destroy Salem?”_ **

_“...not all of them were to his liking.”_

**_“You can't.”_ **

 

 __Ozma fell to his knees, the void vanishing around them though Ozma did not.  In his new form with old pains and burdens weighing him down before everyone else's judgemental stares, and at their mercy.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me and hour and a half to transcribe Jinn's part. Mercy kill my fingers, plz.


	5. Chapter 4

"Salem can't be killed...you all heard her too, right?"

Everyone was in various levels of shock when Jinn returned to the lamp, leaving time to function properly again and everyone to come to terms with the truth.  Yang paced around, trying to steady her hands in a herculean attempt to not misuse them as Mercury sat back in the snow, his hands buried in his hair as he tried to sort out what he knew with what he THOUGHT he once knew.  Maria, Qrow, and Tyrian stood off to the side in silence while Blake looked almost hesitant to try to calm Yang down and Weiss and Ruby staring at Ozpin in disbelief.

"There was SO much you hadn't told us!" Yang continued, glaring at Ozpin, paying no heed to the tears running down his avatar's face.  "How could you think any of that was okay!?"  She threw her hands in the air when Ozpin didn't answer her, turning her back to him and crossing her arms, her irises flickering red as she quelled down her rage. 

Ruby flexed her hands before stepping up to Ozpin, wanting deep down to have pity for the soul suffering before her but hardening her resolution enough to get down to brass tacks.  "Professor?" she said firmly, keeping both pity and anger out of her voice.  "What IS your plan to defeat Salem?"  She wanted to hear it from him himself, to know what exactly it was she put herself and others on the line for, what her team and family had suffered for, what JAUNE had suffered for. 

Ozpin's expression was one of heartbreak and absolute defeat, nothing that assuaged her fears at all.  "I....don't have one," he finally said.  Ruby's own flare of anger was easily outclassed by the outrage from her uncle as Qrow rushed forward and punched Ozpin in the face, sending him flying into a tree.  Any idea that he was simply letting a small lapse of control go went out the window when he made a lurch for Oscar again, and both Mercury and Ruby rushed forward to hold him back.

"Uncle Qrow, stop-!"

"NO ONE WANTED ME!" Qrow shouted, angry tears in his eyes as he halfheartedly struggled against Mercury and Ruby, and then Yang who stepped up to help.  "I was cursed!  I gave my life to you because I thought I was actually doing some good!"  He stopped actively struggling but still strained against the kids' hold.  "And these goddamn kids, Oz!  You don't even KNOW what they had to go through, so DON'T pretend you do!" 

"Qrow, stop it, please!" Ruby begged, holding his arm tighter, shaking with leftover adrenaline and cold.  Her pleas at least got through to him as he stopped straining and went lax, all fight left from him; for good, if he had any say in it.  He glared at Ozpin before turning his whole face away, biting back more tears.

"...meeting you was the worst luck of my life."

Ozpin shook softly, stricken to the core with Qrow's words, as his head gave a minute nod.  "....maybe you're right..." he murmured.  His eyes glowed gold for a moment, and Oscar hissed, putting a hand to his face. 

Ruby let go of Qrow and walked over to Oscar, kneeling down to check on him.  Blake stepped forward, frowning.  "What happened?" she asked. 

Oscar blinked a few times, scanning his own thoughts for an answer as Ruby checked his face.  "...he's gone."

"THAT BASTARD!" Yang snapped, stepping forward.  "Tell him we're not done-!"

"No, he's GONE!" Oscar insisted.  "It feels like he's locked himself deep inside my head....our head...?"  He jerked away from Ruby, rubbing his face hard as he relayed everything Ozpin once told him and everything he had learned.  "I hate this!  I want it to stop!"

"He just ditched us!?" Weiss demanded.

"What are we going to do!?" Blake added, feeling a rise of panic.

"ENOUGH!"

Maria stepped forward, her expression tight and focused.  "We need to get a move-on.  It'll be dark soon and every last one of you is SPEWING negativity!"  She extended the end of her cane to Oscar, who took it and allowed himself to be helped up with her and Ruby's assistance.  "There's a trail up ahead," she said, pointing.  "Trails usually lead somewhere."

"Lady, I don't know who you think you are, but-"  Yang was cut off by Maria's snap.

"NO buts!"  The elder looked among everyone she had been brought to.  "I know you're all upset.  Honestly, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that this is apparently humanity's second time around, but if we don't move, we DIE.  And I'll be DAMNED if I've lived this long just to die out here in the cold!"

Everyone looked between themselves in silence, the break in panic giving everyone some minor settling space and a much-needed deep breath.  Ruby felt her shoulders drop, knowing Maria had a point.  "She's right," she said.  "Come on."  She led the pack back to the crash site, assisting in gathering up what they were able to carry in terms of Dust and minor supplies.

While they were gathering, Mercury noticed that Tyrian had remained oddly quiet since they had seen Jinn's story, and looked over to see the Faunus still kneeling in the snow.  He walked over, any question dying on his tongue when he saw how utterly stricken Tyrian's expression was.  Tyrian's eyes were unfocused and his body lax, like he was an empty shell.  _Or a broken mind,_ Mercury rationalized.  He had almost forgotten that before Jaune, Salem had been Tyrian's entire essence, his very reason for living, his goddess in flesh.  To see that the basis of Tyrian's entire belief system been all but shattered...

And it wasn't as though Tyrian was mentally or emotionally stable to begin with, Mercury thought with a mild shudder.  Regardless of that fact, he couldn't find it in himself to leave Tyrian to his own devices, especially with the weather getting colder by the minute.  He hesitated for a brief moment before reaching out and touching Tyrian's shoulder, shaking it lightly.  "...we have to get going," he said.  "Get up.  Come on."

Tyrian was motionless for a moment before he turned and looked up at Mercury, the light still dead in his eyes but the gears at least turning in his head as he silently stood up and mechanically walked after the group.  Mercury thought of several outcomes to Tyrian finally having all of this sink in, and none were pleasant to think about.  He focused instead on making sure he was loaded up on his air Dust and a few meager rations he managed to find that were left undamaged, tucking them into his jacket.

The group set off with Qrow in the lead along with Ruby, no one feeling like talking as the day wore on but the air getting colder.  Qrow could almost feel the cold starting to penetrate his aura, shaking his head.  "It doesn't look like this is gonna let up..." he muttered, looking up at the darkening grey sky.

"I just want to get this stupid Relic to Atlas," Blake sighed tiredly.  Weiss nodded assent.

"Let's hope we don't have to walk all the way there," she said, wishing she had packed her boots for this trip.

Yang kept pushing her bike, giving Maria a somewhat baleful look.  "I thought trails led somewhere," she griped.  Maria gave her a (Yang assumed) sour look.

"Do you have nothing better to do than to harass 'a defenseless old lady'?" she sassed back, only to be shushed by Ruby.

"Everyone quiet!" she said, looking around.  "Do you hear that?"

Everyone went still, now hearing a strained, metallic creaking sound that echoed in the cold air.  Qrow pinpointed the direction and led the way through to a clearing with multiple dark, snow-stuck houses and sheds surrounded by a rusty metal fence.  The door was loose and swaying in the wind, the sound creepy enough that Ruby put her hand on it to stop it, and noticed a post sign above it that read 'Brunswick Farms'.

Blake looked around, seeing the houses looked in decent shape.  "Well, at least one good thing happened today," she said.

"It looks abandoned," Weiss observed dubiously, not liking how absolutely quiet it was.

"It's still better than this," Ruby said, gesturing at the thickening snow.  Qrow nodded, taking the gate door and opening it for everyone. 

"Come on," he said, waving them through, "I think we could all use some rest."

"Could definitely use more than that," Mercury sighed, nudging Tyrian forward after the others with Oscar tailing them.  He glanced forward to Tyrian, who had yet to change expression to back to Qrow, who was looking around with heavy suspicion before following everyone.

He wasn't alone in his suspicion.  Mercury knew that nice-ish places like this in dead silence never pointed to anything good.  And with everyone too exhausted to even think properly, he didn't think this was going to be the nugget of good fortune they thought it was.


	6. Chapter 5

The storm seemed to kick up as soon as they passed through the gates, the white flurries somewhat obscuring the other houses and barns as they made their way to the largest house straight ahead.  Everyone could feel the temperature dropping by the moment as they fought to head to the large house without sacrificing their defenses, not knowing just what exactly this place WAS.

"...I don't get it..." Ruby murmured, squinting to look past the snow at the dark, silent houses.  "The empty towns I passed through were all empty or damaged...but this place looks FINE..."  She stepped up to the porch as Qrow tried the handle on the door, Weiss shivering harshly in the cold.

"Maybe everyone left in a hurry..." she mused, "before things took a turn?"  Qrow didn't seem to share the sentiment, stepping back and looking to the kids behind him. 

"Stay on guard," he said, making sure the others were armed before leaning back with one hand on Harbinger, the other braced back for balance as he kicked the door open hard.  He rushed in with his sword brandished, everyone following suit as they surveyed every possible direction of the house, hearing nothing but the storm and the house's old creaks.

"CLOSE THE DOOR ALREADY!" Maria's voice snapped, making them jump with nerves.  The elder stepped inside, shaking snow from her poncho.  "It's cold enough in here as it is..." she muttered, doing her own short sweep of the foyer before heading further in.  Mercury pushed Tyrian inside, shutting the door behind him and scowling when the kicked-in latch refused to cooperate.

Oscar spotted a small table nearby, and with Blake's help pushed it against the door to keep it shut.  "I saw a chimney outside," Blake said, pointing toward the living room.  "Maybe we can get a fire going."

"Please," Weiss said, "I'll look for some blankets."

"Yang, Mercury, go with her," Qrow delegated, peering around corners for any hint of man, Grimm, or otherwise and finding none, and began to open doors as the kids began spreading out.  Weiss led the way upstairs with Yang and Mercury on tail end, keeping their steps as light as possible, trying one door and finding only a bathroom.  She made a mental note to check the plumbing later, and then opened a door to what she assumed to be a bedroom.

She saw blankets first.

She saw the bodies in the bed second.

She let out a scream, backing up hard into Yang and feeling her legs collapse under her.  Everyone else ran up the stairs after hearing her and saw the mummified, frozen corpses that she couldn't seem to stop STARING at.

Mercury steeled his jaw, covering her eyes and helping Yang lift her up, turning her away from the sight and shooting everyone else away.  "Get her some space downstairs," he said, grabbing the door handle and shutting the room off before letting out a shudder.  Dead bodies were no stranger to him, but even THAT was a sight not worth seeing.

Back in the hall, no one seemed willing to touch the doors except for himself and Qrow, so Qrow sent them back downstairs to get the fire going as he and Mercury began the search again.  Luckily, Mercury found a linen closet full of spare blankets and began piling them as Qrow checked the other rooms and thankfully found only a spare with no one inside. 

"...the other houses..." he murmured to himself, giving Mercury a somewhat dead look.  "I'm going out to check.  Pass those out and stay on guard."  He went downstairs and moved the table to leave, and Mercury pushed it back in place before handing out blankets to everyone, seeing that Blake finally had a fire going from spare wood in the caddie nearby and blank paper from a desk.

As Blake took a blanket up and covered Weiss, who was still shaken to the core, Mercury spared his own gander around the room, seeing that it was a study of some sort full of books on the walls.  Everyone was either sitting around nervously or pacing around waiting for Qrow to return, and Tyrian was curled up on the couch, staring at the wall with the same blank look he'd had since Jinn's vision.

Ruby followed Mercury's look, frowning at Tyrian.  "...is he...okay?" she whispered worriedly, rubbing her arms.  Mercury was spared a reply when Qrow came back, brushing snow from himself after putting the table back, giving everyone an odd look.

"It's the same in every house."

He walked to the fire, warming himself up.  "Every bed, in every home.  It's like the whole estate just went to sleep and never woke up."

Weiss shuddered hard next to him, curling the blanket around herself tighter.  "We're not staying here, right?" she asked.  Qrow sighed.

"We don't have a choice.  The storm outside's only gotten worse.  We'd freeze to death before we even made it anywhere." 

Everyone sat in stony silence before Maria hopped up from the other couch.  "Well, might as well get comfortable," she said, walking over to the bookshelves to peruse the selections as Yang crossed her arms.

"Yeah, fat chance," she muttered.  Ruby chewed her lip, looking around at everyone else. 

"Okay then, let's do something.  If this place wasn't abandoned, it might still have supplies we can use."

Oscar nodded, getting a few ideas.  "Yeah, maybe even a car," he said, thinking of ways he could repair it already if that were the case. 

"I'll do another sweep of the grounds," Qrow piped up, standing and heading back to the foyer before turning and giving everyone a hard look.  "NO ONE else goes ANYWHERE alone."

Blake stood up.  "Yang and I can search other other buildings for vehicles," she said with a hint of hope in her voice.  Yang didn't look quite as hopeful, though.

"Fine.  Whatever gets me out of this house," she said, walking with Blake to the door as Ruby followed to shut it behind everyone. 

Weiss and Mercury did a followup to Ruby, the former still looking traumatized from the bodies upstairs.  Ruby gave her a smile.  "Food always helps me feel better," she said.  "Just saying."  Her smile faltered a little when Weiss shivered and averted her gaze.

"...right."

Mercury looked back and found Myrtenaster, nodding to it.  "Keep it on you, if that's what makes you feel better," he said.  Weiss hesitated before grabbing it and holding it close, giving Mercury a nod before they both followed Ruby around. 

Oscar watched them go, wanting to go with but feeling off about leaving a mentally checked-out Faunus and an elderly woman to their own devices.  "I'll tell you what," Maria piped up, getting his attention.  "You keep that fire fed, and I'll find us a story to read before bed."  She began looking over the book selections she found, and Oscar couldn't help but feel somewhat better at being treated like a child for once in all this.  He nodded and fed another log into the fire before sitting back and sparing a look at Tyrian.

If it weren't for the ever-so-slow blinking, Oscar would have mistaken Tyrian for another corpse in the house.  He frowned softly, mulling over everything he knew about the Faunus and his relation to Salem, and wondered just how deep that rabbit hole went to have broken Tyrian like this. 

 

Ruby opened a few doors, finding a downstairs washroom in one before opening another behind the stairwell, the darkness having her fish her scroll out for light.  Weiss raised her rapier, making a small glyph with fire dust to trail to the unlit candles in the room, illuminating it to show a home bar room.  "There," she said, frowning a little at the alcohol around the room, Ruby mirroring her sentiment.

"...on second thought, maybe we should keep this room closed..." she said.  "I'm...not sure how Uncle Qrow is handling all of this..."  She looked to the others, frowning when she saw Mercury.  "...Mercury?"

The boy was staring at the room, all color drained from his face and his hands shaking at his sides, looking much like how Weiss had earlier seeing the corpses upstairs.  Before Ruby could ask what was wrong, Mercury whipped around and ran to the washroom, sounds of heavy vomiting in the sink coming moments later.  Weiss and Ruby looked at one another for a second before following, keeping back near the doorway as Mercury retched a few more times, gripping the sink tightly in his hands.

"Mercury, what's wrong?" Ruby asked, looking between him and the room and wondering if there was something he had seen that she hadn't.  Mercury shook his head, clenching his wet eyes shut.  "Mercury, it's okay...!"

"Don't...make me go in there again...!" he gasped between hitched breaths.  "...just don't...!"

Weiss's expression turned softly knowing, her own hands clenching tightly.  "...we won't," she said firmly, feeling her jaw tremble.  She forced herself to relax, turning to Ruby.  "Let's finish looking in that room and then lock it," she said.  She shook her head slightly when Ruby opened her mouth to ask further questions before turning back to Mercury.  "We'll be right back."

They finished perusing the room beyond, which turned out to be a wine cellar that it took all of Weiss's self-control not to set on fire, finding and grabbing two armfuls of canned food and a pack of salt from the shelves before shutting and locking the door as promised.  By then, Mercury had relocated to the living room with Oscar, Maria, and Tyrian, sitting back against the couch and looking like a scared child. 

About that time, Yang and Blake had returned with Qrow in tow, everyone looking thankful at the humble meal of canned beans and vegetables.  Oscar took his turn house-browsing with Maria and found come cutlery and dishes to use in the kitchen cabinets, neither of them being hopeful or foolish enough to try the pantry or icebox for anything to eat.

After some beans were heated up, Mercury put a small bowl of it by Tyrian, nudging the Faunus lightly.  "We have food," he said.  "Eat.  Then we can get out of here and get to Argus to find Jaune."  At the mention of the golden-haired boy, Tyrian's eyes flickered with life, his hands shakily reaching out and taking the bowl, not bothering with the spoon as he tipped it to eat from the rim.  Mercury sighed, figuring that was all he was going to get from Tyrian for now and sat back to eat his own with still-shaking hands.

"Shit..." he hissed when his shaking spoon spilled some down his front.  He took a moment to calm his nerves enough to put the bowl down and stand to go to the washroom again, thankful everyone else was too busy eating or too tired to care, looking around for a towel.

"Here."

He almost jumped, looking over and seeing Weiss standing in the doorframe, holding out a towel to him.  He paused before taking it, wiping his shirt clean with it.  "...thanks," he muttered.  He took a deep breath and let it out, finishing up and finding Weiss still looking at him.  "...what?"

Weiss's hands wrung themselves tightly, her expression quiet and empathetic.  "...it was...your father, wasn't it?"

Mercury felt a shock of cold down his spine, his hands clenching the towel tightly.  Weiss glanced away.

"...I know," she said, keeping her voice low enough to not be heard over the wind outside to the others.  "...I...lost my mother to it," she continued.  "...metaphorically and literally.  I can't stand the sight of it.  I can't stand the smell of it.  It makes me sick."  Her hands went bloodless with how tightly she was clenching them together.  "...she normally checks out entirely, all day, every day...I never see her...but she threw a glass of it at me once, when I yelled at her to stop before I left for Beacon.  I...haven't really seen her since."

Her eyes went misty, but the blue making it seem more like frost.  "From what you've told us...I can't imagine worse.  But I do understand."  She gave him a solid look.  "I really do."

Mercury's hands slowly unclenched, his shoulders dropping slightly.  "...I force myself to be around it," he said, "just to prove it's nothing to me.  I've gotten over the sight, the smell...but...that room looked almost identical to my father's side of the house."  He swallowed hard, letting out a shaky sigh, his eyes like steel.  "I have nothing but bad memories...and it just..."

"I know," Weiss cut in.  "It's okay.  We locked it.  We won't open it again, and when we leave, we'll never see it again."  She glanced at the door, scowling softly.  "I'd burn it if I could."

There was a beat of silence before Mercury stood up straight, putting the towel down.  "...I'd start the fire," he replied.  "Maybe a decent farewell to this godforsaken place...as if this whole world isn't godforsaken anyway..."  He rubbed at his eyes.  "Damn I'm tired..."

"Me too," Weiss said, her shoulders slumping wearily.  "...one thing at a time, though."  She headed back to the study first, and Mercury following several moments later to finish his dinner.


	7. Chapter 6

The blizzard blew itself off just after dusk, but by then the temperature was too cold for night travel and nocturnal Grimm was sure to be on the prowl.  The study was warmed up to a comfortable temperature with everyone relaxing slightly.

Qrow was sitting separated from the others by the window, looking out at the broken moon.  His fingers were twitching slightly from the instinctive urge to reach for a drink to settle his nerves, but the bar room was shut and locked with ice stuffing the lock courtesy of Weiss's glyphs.  Any thought he had of pulling the adult card was dashed at the look of absolute death Weiss have him when he looked at it before he noticed her glancing at Mercury.

So a new adult card was thrown in his pile of being responsible and not doing anything to make the situation worse for any of the kids, even Mercury.

Ruby headed over later in the evening, standing by his company quietly.  "Storm's cleared up," he announced.  Ruby smiled.

"Well that's good," she replied, a positive tilt to her voice.  Loathed as he was to kill that vibe, he shook his head slightly.

"No, I don't have a good feeling about this place," he said, then as a reflexive tag, "especially with me around."

Ruby rubbed her arm, good vibe gone.  "...are you...okay?" she asked, frowning when he scoffed quietly. 

"Suuuuure," he muttered.  "Tell everyone to get some sleep, we'll head out before dawn."  He turned back to the window, but didn't hear Ruby leave. 

"...come sit with us," she said after a long moment.  "It's warmer and we need to stick together."  He felt her eyes on him until he turned to look back.  He gave her a somewhat thankful look but shook his head.

"It's okay, Ruby," he said.  "Go on, get some sleep.  Someone needs to keep watch anyway."

Ruby chewed her lip before nodding slowly.  ".....okay," she said.  "But you'd better rest on the way to Argus."  She smiled and headed back into the study, where Maria was telling everyone about the journal she was reading.  "Hey guys, Qrow said we should get some sleep.  We're gonna head out early tomorrow."

"Thank goodness," Yang muttered, going to fetch a blanket to curl up in, the others following suit.  Maria huffed, gathering her book and headed across the room to a chair with a lamp on the table.

"The last thing you'll catch ME doing is letting some kid tell me what to do," she groused.  "'Go to bed'...pfft..."  She turned on the lamp and resumed reading.  Ruby couldn't help but smile as she gathered her own blanket and settled next to Yang.

Mercury pulled a spare out and put it over Tyrian, who had resumed his silent, dead stare into the fire before curling one around his own shoulders.  He was sorry he hadn't grabbed a few sheets from the closet too, as the residual dampness from walking in the snow and the weather outside was making his thighs ache where they connected to his legs with only the fire keeping them from being entirely painful.  Still, even though he didn't feel comfortable sleeping in this house, with corpses upstairs and a bar down the hall, he couldn't help but just not care.

 

Morning came, and everything was still, inside the house and out.  So still and quiet that Ruby felt she would have slept on forever if Maria's book hadn't slipped from her lap and thumped the floor, making Ruby jerk awake with a gasp.  She looked around, seeing that everyone was still in one piece and sleeping, before rubbing her eyes tiredly and getting up, going to the window and opening the curtains.

Weiss mumbled, curling up under her blanket.  "Close the window..." she whined, tucking it over her face.  Everyone else began slowly stirring as Ruby walked over to Qrow, who was out cold against the chair. 

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby said, shaking his shoulder.  "Wake up.  We overslept."

Qrow's eyes slowly opened, though he looked even more tired than before he sent her off to sleep.  "What...?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes hard before looking outside at the daylight.  He frowned, checking his scroll and saw that it was just before midday, sighing.  "Oh, right...sunrise..."  He scowled, clearly angry with himself, but Ruby just held his shoulder. 

"We all overslept," she said.  "But we all needed the sleep too.  Come on." 

Everyone was rounded up, bleary-eyed and yawning, as Ruby and Qrow left to get the trailer from the shed Yang and Blake had perused, and Weiss used Myrtenaster to weld the attachment to the end of Bumblebee.  Everyone else waited by quietly on the porch, all looking half-asleep.

"Can we just go back to bed?" Oscar asked, sounding wistful for a blanket right now. 

"Maybe if we're all still tired, we should make breakfast?" Blake halfheartedly put in.

"You wanna make it?"

"....not really."

"Anything left TO eat?" Mercury asked, leaning against the post.  No one answered as Ruby and Qrow pushed the trailer over.

"You guys got the bike ready?" she asked.  Yang nodded and gestured quietly.

"Well, it's done now, so let's just hook the bike up and-"  Qrow tapped the trailer with his foot, and a tire blew out.  Everyone stood by in silence, though not surprised in the least, as Qrow growled under his breath.

"You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?" Maria piped up.  Everyone else cringed slightly as Qrow stomped a short distance away and sat back hard in the snow, taking out a flask that still had some juice left.  Yang dropped down on the ground, leaning against the well tiredly.

"I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas," she said, her voice void of any hope.  Ruby sighed.

"It's just a flat tire, I'm sure there's a spare."

"It's not just that.  It's EVERYTHING.  Storms, crashes, monsters..."  She closed her eyes heavily.  "I'm so tired..."

"Me too," Blake said, her ears drooping.  "It feels like we're ALWAYS having to fight to get by."

Ruby looked around at everyone, frowning.  "...yeah," she said like it was obvious.  "But that's what we signed up for."

"We signed up to try and save the world not just..."  His eyes went dark.  "...delay the inevitable."

Everyone else looked agreeing to that sentiment, hope and drive draining from them by the moment.  Weiss stepped up, rubbing her arm.  "Last night I couldn't stop thinking...why are we even going to Atlas?"

Ruby stared at her.  "Weiss...we HAVE to."

"Why?"

Yang stood up, looking almost defiant.  "Ozpin hid the Relics behind giant doors under enormous schools.  But...how long would it take Salem to find a lamp in the middle of nowhere?" 

Ruby leaned back a little, the Relic hanging heavily on her belt.  "...but...the Grimm might-"

"They'd find it eventually, sure...but bury it or just throw it down the well...it could take years.  It might not even happen in our lifetime."  She took a step closer.  "But we could be done with it NOW."

An air of serious thought settled between everyone, even Ruby, as she unhooked the lamp from her belt and stared at it.  The past couple of months ran through her memory, from being brought to Salem's castle, Jaune's transformation and suffering, the pain everyone had been through...

None of it should have been their problem, she thought, her hand quivering as the lamp became heavier and heavier a burden.  Why did everyone have to suffer for a thing like this?  Why was everyone here, and their team in Argus, lied to, had hopes built up and then smashed away entirely for a fight that shouldn't have been theirs to fight to begin with?

Look where they were now, she thought.  Jaune was a half-Grimm monstrosity.  Tyrian's will was broken to pieces.  Emerald and Mercury were conscripted killers.  Qrow was drinking himself deeper into self-loathing.  Oscar's fate of losing himself entirely was all but set in stone. 

Throw it down the well, was everyone's thought, like a coin for a wish.  A wish for a better, more normal life, one where they could settle and live out their lives in near-anonymity while Salem did her searching elsewhere.  They'd tell the others in Argos that the Relic had been lost in the train crash, that they could sent word to Ironwood another way, and then who knows what else?

Ruby turned to the well, holding the Relic out.  "...I am...really tired..."  _Of having to fight all the time_ , was the unspoken part. 

_Of seeing my friends and family hurt._

_Of being the strong one all the time._

So why couldn't she just drop it?

She stared at it quietly before sighing heavily. 

She couldn't do it.

As much as she wanted to, she couldn't.  Who the hell knew why? 

Before she could draw her arm back, a breathy hiss echoed from down in the well and a pair of red eyes stared up at her.

She gasped, jerking back and fumbling for the Relic to no avail as it tumbled down into the well and splashed in.  "NO NO NO, I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" she cried, covering her face. 

"Ruby...it's okay..." Weiss quietly assured.

"NO!  Something's DOWN there!  I saw it!  It was LOOKING at me!"  She stared down into the well again, but there was no sign of the eyes.  Yang looked down too and seeing nothing.

"Hey, you just said it yourself.  You're tired."  She took Ruby's shoulder, shaking it softly.  "Now let's go."

Ruby felt a flash of anger, jerking her shoulder free and whipping around to glare at her sister.  "What's WRONG with you?!  We can't just leave!  We have to go down there, we have to get the lamp back!"  She panicked, shaking her head free of the murky thoughts that still plagued her.  "Oh, what was I THINKING...?!"

"All we have to do is fix this trailer," Qrow spoke up.  "Hey farmboy, check the shed for a spare-"

"I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT THE LAMP!" Ruby shouted, having had enough of everyone's apathetic attitude, giving them all the ultimatum to stay or go without her.

The ultimatum was heard loud and clear.  Blake sighed, stepping up.  "I'll go down with you."

"We'll go down TOGETHER," Weiss put in, a hint of worry in her voice at splitting them up further.

Qrow scowled standing up.  "Fine.  Get the damn lamp.  Oscar, fix the damn tire."  He stomped up the stairs to the house past Maria and Tyrian. 

"Where are YOU going?" Maria demanded.  He got out his flask and shook it.

"Where do you THINK?"  He opened the door and let it slam shut behind him, stalking over to the still-iced door and using the end of his sword handle to shatter the ice and open it, looking around for something to get started on.  He perused the shelves before grabbing a bottle to his liking and turned to sit at the bar and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Tyrian standing in the doorway.  "What the hell do you want?"

Tyrian said nothing, standing still for a moment before walking over to the seat inside and settling down, his coat still curled around him tightly.  Qrow was able to see, still sober as he was, that Tyrian's expression had softened from the previous look of stricken brokenness.

"...this isn't such a terrible place..." Tyrian said, his voice almost wistful as he looked around in a half-daze.  "...even with the cold...springtime should be lovely here..."  His lips quirked into a hint of a smile as he leaned back looking listless.  "...I wouldn't mind not going to Atlas," he finally spoke up again, his eyes going unfocused as they had before.  "I could here...could fix this place up...give the bodies a nice tidy burial...make this place mine..."  He closed his eyes, sighing quietly.  "...doesn't that sound nice, little bird?  My own place, away from the rest of the world...away from false gods, from cruel humans and Faunus alike...away from it all..." 

His eyes opened again, though his pupils were dilated so much they looked almost black.  "...whisk us away from everything..."

 

Mercury watched Oscar go find materials to patch and air the tire, not feeling the drive to do anything else but keep the old lady company as she flipped through the journal.  He couldn't even find it in himself to care that Qrow had gone to the bar room, that Tyrian had left to go back inside. 

He didn't care.

Which felt odd, in recent developments. 

He sighed and sat down on the steps next to Maria and nearly jumped when she gasped and stood up, grabbing her walking stick.  "Hey, what gives-?"

"Stay here and look after Oscar!" Maria snapped with a tone that demanded to be heeded, and it pushed him out of his fog enough to obey, watching her hurry down the steps, throw the book onto the trailer, and then, to his surprise, leap down the well with agility he hadn't seen her display before now. 

He took a moment to throw off his shock, looking between the well, the house behind him, and Oscar returning with patch and an air pump before standing and fetching the journal from the trailer, flipping through it to see what had gotten Maria into a fit before it fell open to a horrifically crude drawing of some nightmare creature, the opposite page displaying in clear script his exact emotion and the one around him.

The Apathy.

He looked to the well in front of him and the house behind him, not knowing if he should run after Maria or go get Qrow and Tyrian, but also knowing that it wouldn't be prudent to leave Oscar alone, especially when the kid was focused on fixing the trailer.  His mental tug-of-war kept him ancy until he threw the book back down, startling Oscar.

"Stay here!" Mercury snapped, hurrying back into the house and forcing himself into the bar room, too stressed to take note that Qrow wasn't even drinking.  "Something's down in that well!" 

Qrow sat up straight, frowning.  "What are you talking about?"

"The well!"  Mercury gestured back behind him.  "Ruby was right, and Maria just jumped down there to go help them-!"  He cut off when he heard a loud rattling from the adjoining room, looking inside and seeing the metal doors shaking and a muffled voice echo inside. 

"Oh shit...!" Qrow swore, hurrying over and tugging on the chains before a piercing sound seemed to strike right through him, his whole body feeling about fifty pounds heavier and the chain stronger than ever.  "...what the...?"

Mercury blinked hard, his vision going blurry as he held the doorframe tightly to stay upright.  Just as soon as it came, there was a louder screech before the fogginess lifted slightly, shaking his head.  "What the hell is going on down there!?"

"I don't know!" Qrow snapped, looking around wildly for a key to the lock and spotting it on the hook next to the door.  "The keys, throw them over!"

Mercury grabbed the keys and tossed them over, watching Qrow fumble with them until the second one unlocked the chain, tugging it off before the piercing sound struck him again hard, his body pitching forward with the weight of the chains in his hand.  Mercury dropped to his knees, wincing from the strain it took to crawl over, hearing Yang's voice through the doors and knowing that they were _so close_ to helping them.

 _Work, you stupid legs!_ he snapped to himself, forcing the extra weight to crawl forward to the doors and push at Qrow.  "Open it...!"

"'m fuckin' trying...!" Qrow slurred, hardly able to pull himself up, let alone the metal door.  His hands shook as they tried to tighten around the door handle to tug open, not noticing Tyrian move from the couch over to them and aid in prying one of the doors open-

Just in time for a blinding silver light to illuminate the entire cellar and store room.

The foggy haze on everyone's mind and body was lifted, and Weiss looked up to see the door open and Qrow reaching down to help her up.  She was quickly followed by everyone else down in the cellar, them looking around like they couldn't believe they were safe and back in the house.

"You guys okay?!" Qrow demanded, looking over the girls for any signs of damage.

"We're fine, Uncle Qrow, but we have to go!" Ruby cried, looking behind her in fear.  She nearly tripped over Tyrian, who was crashed back on the floor, covering his eyes as though he was in pain.  "Tyrian...?"

Qrow stooped down and grabbed the Faunus, throwing him over his shoulder.  "I got him, let's go!" he said, hurrying out.  Mercury was more than glad to, but saw Weiss hesitating.

Weiss glowered around the room before grabbing bottles of alcohol off of the shelves and throwing them at the cellar door, hearing more of the Grimm that hadn't been caught in Ruby's light make their way over.  Another crash had her look up and see Mercury doing the same and getting the same idea, both of them stepping back as Weiss formed a glyph and shot fire at the alcohol-covered cellar and Grimm, the two of them staring at the sight for a solemn moment.

"NOW we can leave," she said, grabbing Mercury's arm and rushing out, the two of them jumping onto the trailer as Yang revved it up and shot off.  No one said a word as they rode off down the trail, watching the house catch fire and burn in the ever-growing distance.

 

The ride was silent for the longest time before Maria spoke.  "The Apathy," she said, "...they're not strong or ferocious...they drain your will to go on."  She wrung her hands slightly.  "Bartleby's estate was hemorrhaging money towards the end.  He wanted to cut costs on Huntsman protection, but in order to do that, he needed everyone calm.  Always."

Oscar flipped through the journal, grimacing at the crudely-sketched image of the Apathy and read quietly.  " _'Managed to get two away from their pack...hike back was miserable but got the bastards in the cellar...wife thinks I was out sealing the waterway entrance...I'll tell her the truth once these things take the edge off of everyone.  I'm tired'_."

"The next page proves that he did," Maria continued quietly, "but not before the rest of the pack followed their missing pair home.  My guess is they make their way beneath the estate through the water tunnels...that Bartleby sealed up the next morning.  Bartleby's plan worked."  She took the journal from Oscar, looking at the last page silently.  "No one was angry or sad or scared...no one was anything.  And then, no one was left."

She shut the book and threw it out into the wilderness, shaking her head solemnly. 

Everyone sat in silence for a bit longer before Weiss spoke up.  "I'm...sorry about what I said," she murmured, looking at Ruby.  "About giving up."

Yang stopped the bike, swallowing her own guilt hard.  "Me too," she said.  "We can't give up.  We have to get the lamp safely to Atlas."

"It's not your fault!" Blake piped up.  "It was those...things..."

"I should have known," Maria cut in, scowling.  "The signs were all there...but I've never seen an entire settlement withered away like that.  I suppose my mind really is going..."  She trailed off when Tyrian sniffled next to her, still curled up with his hands over his eyes. 

" _I_ should have known..." Tyrian said, his voice hitching sharply.  "I should have sensed them...should have paid attention...!"  His shoulders shook hard as he curled up tightly under his coat.  "Why did I let them affect me...?!"

"It's a Grimm that drains your will to live," Mercury said, frowning.  "We were ALL affected by it one way or another."

"But I SHOULDN'T have been!" Tyrian wailed, tears streaming down his face under his hands.  "I can block it out, why was I...HOW could I have even thought for one moment about not seeing him again...!?"  His body shook with quiet sobs, everyone looking at one another quietly with Qrow looking the worst off, having heard Tyrian's listless dreams of settling in and possibly, if they hadn't heard the trouble in the cellar, staying there in that house forever, wasting away like the Brunswicks upstairs.

Mercury hesitated for a moment before reaching over and touching Tyrian's shoulder.  "It's been a shitty few days," he said.  "Everyone with something to lose felt like giving up back there.  So stop worrying about it."  He leaned back against the trailer railing.  "We're out of there.  We're going to Argus.  We're gonna see Ren and Nora and Emerald and Jaune again.  Even if we fuck up with the Relic, we're going to what's really important."

Ruby smiled at him, giving him and Tyrian an encouraging look before her brow furrowed in worry.  "Tyrian, what's wrong with your eyes?" she asked.  Tyrian's shoulders slowly untensed as he took his hands away and lowered the hook in their place.

"They're light-sensitive, little flower," he replied quietly.  "And yours is brighter than anything else."

Everyone nodded in understanding, save for Mercury.  "Is THAT why you only fight outside on cloudy days and at night?" he demanded.  "Emerald and I thought you were just being creepy." 

He swore he heard Tyrian snort.  "You never asked, quicksilver," the Faunus muttered.  "But yes, that is why.  I'll be lucky if I'm not blind after that..."

"What a tragedy that would be," came Maria's dry response.  "Though that light was nothing compared to what I could do."  Her lips quirked slightly at Ruby's expression.  "What, it wasn't obvious?" she asked her.  "I had silver eyes."


	8. Chapter 7

 

The train came to a stop at the Argus station and everyone dis-boarded, being checked over by Atlesian and Mistral police and medics who had been notified as soon as contact could be made about the attack on the train. Everyone was in good spirits, however, having again thanked the half of the rescue Huntsmen who stayed behind.

As promised, the conductor refunded the ticket prices to them and Dudley promised a good word later for the train department in regards to another free ride after Jaune had noticed his broken arm and used his Semblance to help heal it, and the group stepped onto the platform in Argus station.

“Wow...” Nora breathed, looking out the window over the city. “It's huge!”

“And warmer than I thought,” Emerald added, breathing in the salty sea air and smiling a little. Jaune shook hands with Dudley again and met up with his teammates, smiling out over the city.

“It is pretty nice, isn't it?” he said, seeing Ren nod next to him, the boy still quiet. “...you guys okay?”

Emerald and Nora turned back to the boys, the smiles dropping a little as the awkwardness returned. “As okay as we can be,” Nora said with a small shrug. “I am pretty worried about the others, though.”

“Me too,” Emerald said. “Even with Tyrian there...the fact that they're in the wilderness and there's a blizzard coming...” She rubbed her arms a little. “...speaking of, where do we stay while we wait?”

“I wouldn't mind crashing in the station,” Ren said, looking at a few others who were dozing while waiting for their own trains, which were running late because of the Argus Limited fiasco. The girls nodded assent, and Jaune seemed to steel himself for something before he took out his scroll and opened it. “...Jaune?”

“Give me a few,” Jaune said, dialing up a number and putting the scroll to his ear, feeling his tail twitch slightly with nerves as the scroll on the other end rang once, twice,

_“Hello, this is Saphron Cotta-Arc.”_

“...Hey, Saph. It's Jaune.”

There was silence before a flurry of excited rummaging. _“Jaune?! Omigosh, it's been AGES! I JUST got your mail from weeks ago in the mail last weekend, but...wait..._ ” A confused pause. _“You have a scroll signal? Where are you!?”_

Jaune smiled a little. “Argus station. And I know it's really short notice, but-”

 _“But nothing, you get your butt over here right now!”_ Saphron laughed. _“I'll let Terra know you're coming.”_

“Not just that, Saph...” Jaune glanced behind him where everyone was staring at him. “I've got part of my team with me...and another part on the way. I couldn't ask you to house all of us.”

 _“Well you don't have to ask,”_ Saphron replied. _“I'm TELLING you. You're all welcome here.”_ She sighed. _“It's good to hear your voice, Jaune. I missed you.”_

“I missed you too, Saph.” Jaune smiled a little, feeling his eyes go misty. “We're on our way. Your address still the same?”

_“You know it. You need me to come meet you there?”_

“Nah, we're on our way. Thanks so much, sis. Love you.”

_“Love you to, baby bro.”_

Click.

Jaune shut his scroll and turned back to the others. “So...my sister can have us stay with her and her wife.” He gave them an awkward smile. “Good for you guys?”

“...you have a sister?” Emerald asked. “Here?”

“He's got seven,” Nora put in.

Emerald whistled. “Wow. That explains a lot.”

“SERIOUSLY, what does that MEAN!?”

 

No one explained what they meant the entire way to Saphron's home, no matter how much Jaune pestered them. They finally made it to a nice house on a side street, but Jaune made no move to walk up the steps.

“Hey, you okay?” Nora asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. Jaune nodded a little, his hands flexing.

“...I have a lot to say,” he replied. “...but I can't tell her everything. I'm trying to figure out what to say and...what not to say.”

The others looked among each other quietly, understanding. “You want a short do/don't list to start?” Nora suggested helpfully. Jaune nodded. “Hm......tail.”

“...might have to, she'll notice once I take the cloak off.”

“Tyrian?” Emerald added.

Jaune nodded. “Definitely.”

“The connection between the tail and Tyrian?” Ren asked. Jaune shook his head. “...the Relic?”

“No. Not until Ozpin gives us a go whether or not to.”

“Then it's a start,” Emerald said, smiling. “Anything else can wait.” She nudged him forward to lead up the stairs.

Jaune sighed, straightened his back, and knocked on the door.

It flew open hardly a moment later and he found himself with an armful of his sister, hugging him tightly. “It's so good to see you again!” Saphron laughed. Jaune smiled, hugging her back.

“It's good to see you too, Saph,” he said, giving her a squeeze before letting go and turning to the others. “Saphron, this is part of my team; Lie Ren, Nora Valkerie, and Emerald Sustrai.” He smiled. “Guys, this is my older sister Saphron.”

Everyone smiled and waved, and Saphron quickly pushed the door open. “Come on in, please!” she chirped. “It's wonderful to see you all in person!”

Emerald looked around the warm, cozy house with curiosity. “You've heard of us, then?”

“Of course,” Saphron replied. “Jaune updated me all the time about his team before...all of that.” She tactfully didn't speak further. “And I saw your matches too, Emerald.”

“Oh, you watched the Vital Festival?” Jaune asked, wincing. Saphron nodded.

“I did. We don't have to discuss it if you don't want to.” She hugged Jaune again tightly. “I'm just glad I'm seeing you again.” She leaned back, rubbing her damp eyes for a moment before sitting everyone down and hurrying to fix drinks for them.

Emerald gave Jaune a smile. “She seems nice,” she said. Jaune nodded, looking comforted by the familiarity and completely at ease, something that didn't go unnoticed by the others. Saphron came back with hot cocoa, passing them out and sitting next to Jaune.

“I'm pretty surprised you're on the team, Emerald,” she piped up as a conversation starter. Emerald held the mug in her hands tightly, nodding.

“...me and my partner Mercury,” she said. “He stayed behind with team RWBY to help...we joined Ren and Nora...and Jaune.” She swallowed hard, feeling a small twinge in her abdomen where Cinder had thrown a dagger into it weeks earlier. “...we lost our team back then, and joined up with them.”

Saphron nodded sympathetically. “I'm glad you found such good teammates to help you out,” she said, smiling. “Jaune had nothing but good things to say about his friends...so I wasn't ENTIRELY worried when Mom and Dad wrote that he was leaving to travel to Anima.” She sipped her own cup of cocoa, her smile turning mischievous. “So...have you all been taking good care of my baby brother?”

“Saaaaaaph...”

Emerald smothered a giggle, but her smile was sincere. “To be honest,” she said, “he's taken more care of us.” She looked down into her mug. “...he took me and Mercury in and made us feel like family. I can't thank him enough for that.” She noticed Jaune's cheeks turn pink and smiled wider.

Saphron noticed, nudging Jaune playfully. “Is she a special someone, Jaune?” she asked teasingly, making the other three almost spew back into their mugs, Emerald smothering back more laughter.

“Uh...no...” Jaune replied, his cheeks turning redder. “I can't say that, no.”

“Wrong tree,” Nora muttered, making Emerald's laughter strain further and Jaune give her a 'YOU'RE NOT HELPING' look.

“Oh, I see,” Saphron said, smiling, setting her cup down. “Sooo, what's his name? Did you go to school with him? Did you write to Mom and Dad about him?”

Jaune rubbed his face, sitting back on the couch. “...to be honest, Saph, I wouldn't even bring him home to Mom and Dad,” he replied. Saphron's lips twitched.

“Oooh, is he a bad boy?”

Ren had to put his mug down to bury his face in his hands, not knowing whether to laugh or scream.

“You...could say that,” Jaune replied slowly. His fingers fiddled with the edge of his cloak. “...his name is Tyrian. Tyrian Callows. And he didn't go to Beacon...or Haven....I'm not even sure if he tried out for Shade to be honest...” He chewed his lip. “He's...older.”

Saphron blinked, sitting up. “....how MUCH older?” she asked, arching a brow. Jaune went red, covering his face.

“Saph...!”

“Jaune.”

“Is it REALLY that important?” He sat up, his face serious. “He's older, but he cares about me. A LOT. And I care about HIM. He's saved our asses more than I can count, and he takes care of the team like they were his own.” He wrung his hands together, staring at them. “Isn't that enough?”

Saphron sighed, putting a hand over his. “It is,” she said. “But you ARE my baby brother, and I'll ALWAYS put whoever you're with under a microscope. You know that.” She smiled a little. “I know you can handle yourself.”

 _That's just it,_ he wanted to say, _I CAN'T handle myself._ “Thanks, Saph,” he replied, giving her a smile back. “...and not that he'd mind if you did, but he's a Faunus.”

Saphron rolled her eyes. “You KNOW I don't care about THAT,” she scoffed.

“Scorpion Faunus.”

“......ooh boy.”

“Something wrong with THAT?” Nora asked. Jaune's lips twitched.

“She's afraid of bugs, is all. That's why she moved to the cold.”

“Jaune!”

 

Everyone else went to settle in for a nap while Jaune sat outside on the back porch, enjoying the calm presence of the evening despite the wind that was picking up from the storm further inland. Terra was getting some dinner ready for everyone for when they woke up while Adrian played in his pen and Saphron stepped outside to see Jaune.

“You're not tired?” she asked, sitting next to him. Jaune shook his head; he hadn't slept for three days but remained wide awake.

“I'm fine,” he said. “Thanks again to you and Terra for letting us stay.”

“You keep thanking us,” Saphron remarked, rolling her eyes with a smile. “And we'll keep saying it's no problem. We're family.” She squeezed his arm. “Which is why I know something's bothering you.” She eyed his face for a tell, seeing him avert his eyes, something she noticed he never did before. “...Jaune.”

“...there's a lot to unpack that I don't want to,” he finally said. “Things that I wouldn't want to burden you and your family with. Things I actually CAN'T tell you because it's not mine to tell.” He clenched his hands slightly, feeling his tail tighten around his waist.

Saphron frowned, sighing and leaning against his shoulder. “....you know you can tell me anything and I'll be on your side,” she said quietly. “Like how you took Jeanne's transcripts when she changed her mind about Beacon. I knew it was your choice to make, and your fight to win or lose. And I'm glad you won.” She smiled sadly. “You've grown up so much since you left. It's in your body, your eyes, your voice...I almost didn't recognize you. But I know that it IS you. You're nothing if not full of conviction. And I'm nothing if not supportive...even if it's in ways our parent's weren't. So...if there's something you CAN tell me, I'll listen.”

Jaune was still for a moment before nodding, turning his head to look Saphron in the eye. She stared back, and then noticed that his eyes weren't the solid blue as her own, but had a ring of red around the pupil. “...what is that?” she asked. “What happened?”

“Something...I won't go into details about,” he answered, steeling his jaw as he stood up. “...but there are things about the Grimm no one really knows about...things that I found out.” He looked past her through the door to make sure Terra and Adrien were out of sight before he slipped his cloak to the side. “I'm begging you, please, don't freak out, okay?”

Saphron nodded, thought even steeling herself for the worst couldn't prepare her for when a white-plated scorpion tail unwound from his hips and curled out from the cloak. She stared at it before looking to Jaune, ten thousand questions on her lips but only one managing to slip out. “.....how....?”

Jaune curled his tail back under the cloak out of sight. “...like I said, I won't tell you the details,” he said lowly, “but...I was infected with Grimm ichor...and it made me...like this.” He gestured to his whole self before tucking his arms close, the tail curling back around his hips.

“...I can't go home like this, Saph,” he said quietly. “I can barely pass for Faunus in a pinch...but I needed to at least tell you-”

He was cut off when Saphron threw her arms around him, holding him tightly enough to feel her shaking. She sniffled into his shoulder, tightening her hold. “...you have a whole new piece of you...!” she sobbed, burying her face into his cloak. “...it hurt, didn't it...?”

Jaune swallowed hard, his insides twisting at his sister's despair. “...it did,” he replied, hesitating before hugging her back. “But I'm okay now, despite everything. I need you to know that, okay?”

Saphron shook her head. “You're not,” she said firmly. “I know when you're okay or not okay about something.” She leaned back, looking him in the eye. “You're okay with your team. You're okay with this Tyrian you're with. But you're not okay with THIS.”

He nodded with a sigh, conceding. “...you're right,” he said. “I'm not. But I'm okay enough to function. To get through my life as I need to right now.” He took her shoulders in his hands, his expression serious. “...but I need YOU to be okay with ME. You don't have to like or accept what I am now, but I need you to know that I'm happy with you, my team, with Tyrian...things that make me feel human. That's what I need most of all.”

Saphron wiped her eyes, giving his face a searching look before nodding. “....alright,” she said quietly. She sighed, shaking her head. “...I'm not unhappy about YOU,” she said. “I'm unhappy with how this is affecting you...of how it WILL affect you.” She sat back down hard. “...do you want Terra to know?”

Jaune sat back down too. “Not unless it's necessary,” he said. “She can know about everything else...but it's you I trust with this, Saph.”

They sat in silence for a spell before Terra's cooking had everyone upstairs stumble down for some food and a chat. Jaune and Saphron joined them, letting everyone believe their wet eyes were from joy of being together again.

 

Emerald didn't have all that much to say, focusing mostly on her food and surveying the others. She felt a twinge of envy toward Jaune, having a big family to start and a sister so readily willing to house a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses.

The house was cozy and full of charm and love, with Saphron and Terra giving each other smiles and loving looks, and sharing both with their son, speaking of whom had been let down from his highchair to crawl around and was now standing himself up on Emerald's chair, making a grabby-hand for her.

She didn't quite know what to do, having never dealt with children before, but she didn't want to seem rude to the couple housing her, and awkwardly leaned down to pick Adrien up. The boy eyed her over, focusing on her hair and cooing as he papped at her bangs lightly.

“Is he bothering you?” Terra asked, giving Emerald a concerned and apologetic look. “We can take him...”

“It's...alright,” Emerald replied. “...he doesn't pull hair, does he?”

“Oh no, he's past that,” Saphron assured with a smile. “I think he's just interested in yours. Green is his favorite color.”

At the mention of the word 'green', Adrien squealed and clapped his hands like he was agreeing with his mother's explanation. Emerald blushed a little, feeling a tad touched that Adrien had apparently preferred her hair over Ren's clothing. “Well, alright then,” she said with a shrug. “Just don't go chewing on it, alright?”

Adrien gave her a serious look and a nod before going back to looking over her hair.

Nora pressed her hands to her face, smothering down a squeal. “Oh, where's my scroll, I need to get a picture of this for Mercury!”

“Don't you dare.”

Jaune already had his scroll out and had a picture taken. “Too late.”

“You are the WORST.”

“What should the caption be?” Jaune asked, not bothering to hide his grin. “Any ideas, guys?”

“'Big Sissy Emerald!'” Nora suggested, making Emerald blush harder.

“Good one! Aaaaaaaand saved.” Jaune gave Emerald a smile that was shared around everyone at the table.

Despite her embarrassment, Emerald found that she didn't quite mind.

 

 

 


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, an update!

Jaune stayed outside while everyone else slept, keeping himself busy by reading and checking his scroll for a signal from Tyrian. The bars were nonexistent as they had been since he started checking, and while his faith in Tyrian's abilities hadn't waned, he couldn't help but worry.

Had they found shelter? Food? Were any of them hurt? He didn't know.

And it scared him not to know.

He was already ancy anyway, his day being soured by the Atleasean commanding officer literally shutting the gate in their faces after a few not-so-pleasant words.  Ren and Emerald had to drag Nora away and Jaune needed a moment to himself to calm down and simmer his own anger, and they convened back at the Cotta-Arc house to settle down and wait it out for Ruby and the others to return.

Jaune rubbed his eyes, feeling tired for the first time in a while, wondering if he was due for a sleep cycle when a soft creak on the stairs had him looking up, seeing Ren staring at him from the stairwell. 

Ah, that damn awkward silence again.  He gave Ren a nod, watching his former teammate delegate for a moment before continuing his descent and moved to the living room, hesitating for a brief moment before sitting next to Jaune on the couch.

More silence.

"...how are you?"

Jaune's lips twitched at the question that was very Ren-esque in delivery, lowering his phone.  "Well enough," he answered honestly, his eyes dropping to his scroll again.  "...I'm just worried about everyone."

Ren nodded quietly.  "...I am too," he admitted.  His hands wrung themselves tightly, brow furrowed in thought.  "...I never apologized for what I said before," he finally said, his voice strained, unable to look at Jaune as a means to keep his nerve.  "What I said was hurtful and horrible...completely out of line..."  He swallowed hard, his fingers going bloodless from how tightly he was clenching them. 

"...I never learned how to express myself properly after obtaining my Semblance...I relied on it to suppress my emotions, even when I didn't need to.  So...when something like Beacon, like Salem, like Haven happens..."  He closed his eyes, exhaling hard.  "...I didn't know what to do."

Jaune was silent, nodding his head slowly.  "...you're better now," he stated.  "I can feel it.  You're not as...turmoiled as before."

Ren nodded, eyes still closed.  "...I've been talking to them," he said.  "As a team and such...getting things out in the open..."  He sighed.  "Even if it's...nothing good to say."

Two two sat in silent for a few long time before Ren spoke again.

"...I want to ask again...this time with sincere meaning..."  He paused.  "...why him?"

Unlike last time, Jaune felt just curiosity with only the smallest twinge of anxiety or hurt.  He weighed his words for a moment before speaking.  "...Ren...could you honestly tell yourself that you could handle being with a monster?"  The spike of doubt he felt from Ren was accompanied by a flinch of guilt from the other boy.  "...Tyrian knows he's not a good person.  Even if he tries to do better, to form new relationships, to regain any semblance of sanity that's been taken from him over the years...he knows some things about him can never...WILL never change."

He looked down at his scroll, still seeing no signal from anyone else.  "The one thing that he has going for him is finding someone more of a monster than he is.  And I fit that bill.  Before me, all he had was Salem...and she didn't even care enough about every ounce of loyalty he had in his soul that he had to give.  I know it's incredibly uncomfortable for you guys to have to see, but..."  He looked up, his eyes almost pained.

"...since he was a child, all he's known is the pain of having something taken from him.  Humans slaughtered his clan for their Arachnid-Faunus aspects.  The other Faunus in his village didn't care because he was Insectoid.  The White Fang scouted him but used him as a meat shield or for suicide missions because he was 'expendable'.  And after that, Salem found him and gave him a new purpose, taking for granted the fact that even after all that, he still devoted his entire being, put all of his trust into someone who gave him a scrap of attention."

Jaune looked at his hands, seeing them quiver softly.  "Him asking for me was something he felt was due to him.  The fact that even after all those years of being groomed to feel like he was a slave to something bigger than himself, he still felt due for something to call his own.  But things changed..."  He closed his fists loosely. 

"I honestly don't know how or why...but...the fact that I devoted even a small bit of myself to HIM...changed everything." 

He looked at Ren, the red ring in his eyes almost glowing.  "He chose to devote himself to me because I told him he could stay by my side wherever I went.  And because of that, he took my thoughts and feelings into consideration.  He tried to keep the peace with all of you, for me.  He keeps my humanity intact...and I think I'm nurturing his own sanity to return."

Pause.

"...so...it's less....'why him' because...it's more of 'because it's US'...I guess is what I'm saying."  He sighed.  "...we're two broken creatures who can't even be called human or Faunus anymore...so when push comes to shove, that's where we end up."

Ren was silent, mulling over Jaune's words for the longest time before he nodded.  "I see," he said, a sad, withered smile twitching at his lips.  "...none of us helped with that...because we didn't listen.  Because we were too afraid to listen."  He looked up, eyes wet.  "...I saw the worst case scenarios play out all at once back in Haven, Jaune.  I saw you almost become a complete monster...and then you vanished from us.  Two times, you were just gone...and I realized how far back we had driven you."  He hung his head in shame.  "...my own actions pushing most of that distance.  You were my leader, my teammate, my FAMILY...and for my own fear, I threw it in the dirt."

He looked up, swallowing hard.  "I won't ever ask for your forgiveness for what I did and said.  Nothing I could do could make up for that."

Jaune looked at Ren for several long critical moments before nodding.  "Maybe," he said.  "But you have it nonetheless."  He looked down at his scroll for the umpteenth time before rubbing his eyes.  "...I should actually try to get some sleep," he finally said.  "A few hours will get me through the next few days, at least."

Ren nodded quietly, standing.  "Alright," he said.  "...thank you, for letting me talk."

"Thank YOU for talking to me," Jaune replied with a soft smile.  "I know it had to be pretty hard for you...all things considering.  And we can talk again later, if you want."

Ren returned the smile.  "Goodnight, Jaune," he said, turning to the stairs and then in a brief spike of nerve turned and hugged Jaune tightly, pressing a kiss to the other boy's temple before hurrying on without looking back.

Jaune stared after him, feeling his cheeks pinken slightly as he rubbed his temple.  At least Ren got it out of his system now, he thought with some manner of humor as he laid down on his side on the couch, keeping his scroll on just in case.

 

* * *

 

Everyone slept in the next day -save for Terra who had work at the relay tower- but got up around noon to help clean and take care of Adrian while Saphron got some errands done.

"You don't need to take care of him, really-!" Saphron kept insisting while Jaune practically pushed her out the door.  

"Saph, you're housing four Huntsmen and Huntresses and you're about to take in more," he said, smiling.  "It's the least we can do.  Besides..."  He glanced over at Adrian who was engrossed in his playtime with Emerald.  "...you know how loud he gets when he's pulled away from playtime."

Saphron winced, knowing full well how loud Adrian's screaming Semblance could get if he wanted it to.  "...alright," she said.  "I'll be back in an hour.  But you call me if you get your friends on the line, and I'll hurry straight back."

"Deal," he said, smiling as she left.

Nora had a constant hold of her scroll as she watched Emerald play with Adrian.  "If Holo-gram wasn't down, this would be worth its weight in gold," she said, grinning.  

Emerald rolled her eyes.  "You have way too much time on your hands," she replied, watching Adrian pick up one of the figurines and hold it out insistently to Nora.  "And now you have to put the scroll down and play.  Master Adrian says so."  At her statement, Adrian gave a hard stare and a serious nod.

"...he's really serious," Ren said.  Emerald nodded, building a small tower with the blocks.

"You learn who's boss quick, or suffer their wrath," she said, only half-serious.  Nora put the scroll down and too the figurine, tugging Ren down to join them as Jaune went to get coffee for everyone.

It put a soft settlement of normalcy here, he thought quietly.  He was almost content to be here, with the bulk of his team, his sister and in-law, his nephew...

He'd be content to STAY here.

His hand paused his stirring, frowning softly to himself.  

How would that even work, he berated himself.  He'd be a walking honing signal for any errant Grimm, or always at risk of Grimm sickness if there was a catastrophe.  Tyrian wouldn't fare much better; the cold paired with Atlesian prejudice wouldn't make things any better than if they were nomads, regardless of Tyrian didn't care about being a Faunus or not.  

He shook his head, bringing the coffee to the others; he had to focus on their mission.  Anything else could come after.

 

* * *

 

Saphron was just waking through the door when Jaune's scroll blipped.  He looked down at it, eyes widening when he saw scroll signals pop up one by one, and quickly pressed Ruby's icon, it having the strongest signal, pacing around as he listened to it ring.  

_"...hello?"_

"RUBY!" he cried, grinning.  "Oh THANK YOU!  I've been watching for your scroll signals since we made it to the city!"

Ruby mumbled something on the other end, the sound of an engine in the background filling the silence before she spoke again.  _"We see a path to Argus, Jaune!"_ she said, sounding as excited as he felt.  

"Great!"  He turned, noticing the other three staring at him expectantly.  "Ruby, how is everyone, are you all okay?"

 _"We are,"_ Ruby replied.  _"Everyone's unhurt and accounted for -Tyrian, stop grabbing at me -hey!-"_

_"Jaune!?"_

Jaune smiled a little, his expression shaky.  "Tyrian."  He let out a sigh.  "You're all okay.  Thank goodness..."  He smiled at his half of the group, giving them a thumbs-up.  "How far away are you all?"

 _"Close, my dearest,"_ Tyrian replied, sounding on the verge of tears.  _"But not close enough."_

Jaune was already grabbing his sword.  "We're on our way to the gate," he announced.  "We'll wait for you there, okay?"

_"Yes, alright-"_

_" -give me back my scroll, Tyrian-!"_

_" -I haven't finished speaking to him-"_

_"For fuck's sake, we'll be there in less than an hour!"_ came Mercury's voice before the line went dead.  Jaune could only assume the other boy turned it off to avoid further conflict, to his amusement. 

"They're almost to the gates," he said, everyone already scrambling up and hurrying out.  Saphron smiled after them, touched by their concerned excitement as she let them run ahead, needing to put away a few things before she followed.

"Has Jaune always been this fast?" Nora asked Ren and Emerald, seeing Jaune at full sprint ahead of them.

"And in full armor too," Emerald remarked.  "Ahh, the power of true love.  Or maybe he just wants that d-"  She ducked when Ren took a swipe at her head, laughing as she ran to the gate with everyone.

Ren sighed when they finally stopped, feeling slightly out of breath.  "We are taking the street car back," he said, leaving no room for argument.  Nora and Emerald nodded assent, not too far behind him in breathlessness.  Jaune, naturally, didn't seem fazed at all and was looking around for any sign of a familiar face.  Ren walked up, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"We got here pretty fast, Jaune," he said.  "They're probably still getting in through city security."  He could almost feel Jaune's aura vibrating in anticipation.  "...want to go out of the gate to wait?"

Jaune nodded.  "Please." 

All four walked out, keeping eyes out for the other half for another ten minutes before Nora squealed and took off running.  "CUTE BOY OZ!" she shouted, tackle-hugging Oscar right to the ground.  Everyone else hurried over to greet them, and Mercury and Blake almost went flying when Tyrian rushed past them to Jaune, scooping up the younger man tightly.

"Oh, my darling!" Tyrian wailed, already crying with joy.  "Never again, do you hear me!?  Never again!"  He hugged Jaune tightly, his whole body shaking softly with everything but the cold, Jaune felt.  Jaune hugged him back just as tightly, feeling seething quivers of several emotions bleeding from Tyrian's aura.

_Pain_

_Hurt_

_Fear_

_Worry_

He frowned, feeling that Tyrian and Ruby's statements of everything having gone alright wasn't quite accurate.  But he could deal with that later.  Everyone WAS here, accounted for, with no missing limbs to speak of. 

He let go of Tyrian, giving the Faunus a smile.  "Alright," he said.  "We won't be separated again, not when we're almost there."

Tyrian composed himself, nodding and tugging his coat closer around him.  "I am rather sick of this weather," he remarked.  "Is it any warmer in the city?"

"Oh, much."  He held up his hands.  "Your tail, is it alright?" 

He saw Tyrian's expression shift like he JUST realized his arthritic issue, and nodded a little.  "Yes, but later, when we're settled," he said, sounding more tired than Jaune could remember him being.  "If I sit down now, I just might not get up again for awhile."

Jaune nodded.  "Fair enough."  He smiled at everyone, seeing that they added a new member to their group, a small old lady who melded right in like she always belonged.  He would have to ask about that later.  "Let's get everyone in and settled," he announced, leading the way into Argus.

Ruby's team plus Mercury marveled over the city, pointing out places of interest to maybe visit at some point before the street car came to a stop on the corner of Saphron's home street, everyone stepping off. 

"So, where have you guys been staying?" Blake asked.  Jaune was about to answer when he heard his sister call over from the other side of the street.

"There you are!"  She waved them over, smiling.

Yang squinted slightly, seeing a resemblance of SOMETHING.  "...is that...?"

Jaune nodded.  "Yeah," he said.  "One of them at least.  Come on."  He led the group over to Saphron, who looked back with a quick critical eye.

Nine others, rather than eight Jaune had mentioned; she assumed the little old lady was the newcomer.  Team RWBY was a given, but now that narrowed down Jaune's beau to the boys.  The small one was out; too young.  She recognized Mercury from the Vytal Festival match on TV, so nope.  That left the two older males to look at.

Indeed, both were definitely older, and at first glance neither seemed to have any Faunus attributes.  The narrow-down came to a sure thing when the man in a long thick fur coat almost latched himself to Jaune's arm, looking at him like he was the whole world condensed into a physical form.

So this was Tyrian, she thought, getting as much of an unbiased look as she could before they made it over.  A couple inches taller than Jaune, long dark brown hair, golden eyes, strong jawline...aesthetically pleasing enough, she supposed.  His eyes and smile were warm and all for Jaune, she could see; she'd seen that look plenty of times from Terra to know that it was genuine. 

That made things a little better, she supposed.

Jaune walked up, Tyrian at his side.  "Saphron, this is Tyrian," he said, gesturing to the other man.  "Tyrian, this is my sister Saphron, and my nephew Adrian."

Tyrian smiled, giving a dramatic but oddly in-character bow.  "A pleasure to finally meet Jaune's favorite sister," he said with an earnest smile.  Jaune lightly nudged his side with his elbow.

"I told you that in confidence," he muttered, smothering a smile.  Saphron did the same, straightening her back and looking as stern as she could.

"Nice to meet you too," she replied.  "Naturally, I have many reserves about anyone dating my baby brother.  Whether or not you pass my rigorous approval is by the gods' will."

How serious the two looked had Jaune cover his face with his hand, muffling a groan.  "...Adrian, take a good look," he muttered.  "This is you the minute someone likes you."

Adrien's look of disdain had Emerald in stitches, everyone else wondering what in the world was going on.

Saphron broke character, smiling at everyone.  "My house is this way, everyone!" she announced.  "Hot drinks are at the ready, and weapons are left in the foyer!"  She led the way back to her home, keeping an ear out on the conversations of the teenagers and other adults behind her.  Most if it was hushed demands for the other group to tell them EVERYTHING, but from Jaune and Tyrian, there was silence.

Whether or not that was a bad thing, she didn't know.

But she wanted to find out.


	10. Chapter 9

True to his word, once Tyrian was on the couch back at the Cotta-Arc household, he wasn't keen on getting back up.  Jaune stood by, smiling down with soft concern as the rest of Team RWBY plus the add-ons practically flopped back to take a much-needed breather.  Long journey or no, Adrian became a center of attention for Yang and Weiss, reminding everyone that they have younger siblings and possibly missed a baby to coddle rather than a rambunctious team leader and -whom Weiss referred to as- a backstabbing toady of her father. 

Ruby was more interested in Saphron, however.  "Jaune, I can't believe I'm meeting your sister!  Oooh, I have SO many questions!"

Jaune rolled his eyes.  "I'm sure Saph would looooove telling only the most humiliating and embarrassing ones," he replied.

"You'd be right!" Saphron said.  "I love telling stories about my baby and only brother!"  Her smile went mischievous.  "How about the time you didn't know you were even a boy until you were-"

"Saph!"

"Oh no, please," Tyrian said, half-asleep but lazily smiling.  "How old was he?"

"Can we place bets?" Emerald asked.  "My bet's on six."

"Four.  Even Jaune can't be that dense," Mercury put in.

"Five?" Yang piped up.

Jaune put his face in his hands.  "You're all terrible," he muttered, his face red.  "...and Yang was right."

Everyone took a moment to laugh, and Blake noticed a picture on a shelf.  "...so, Saphron?  You're the only Arc living here?" she asked, seeing Jaune give her a thankful look at the change of subject.

"Yep, moved the second I could.  Jaune and I are the only two living away from home."  Saphron gave him a kissy-face look.  "I guess he just wanted to be like his big sis!"  Her smile widened when he pouted and looked away.  "Aww, you're not denying it!" 

"Saph..."

Jaune was spared a little less embarrassment when the door opened and Terra walked on with groceries.  Saphron hopped up.  "Everyone, this is my wife, Terra Cotta!"

Terra nodded at everyone's greeting.  "Hello!  Wow, big party, you guys weren't kidding..."  She adjusted the bags.  "Hon, could I get some help here?"  Saphron hurried to the kitchen to help, and Jaune followed.  "Aw, Jaune, you don't have to-"

"Please, least I could do," he said, taking off his gauntlets and rolling his sleeves up.  "Besides, they're my guests too."

Saphron nudged his side a little.  "But your boyfriend is one of them," she murmured.  "And not to be rude, but he doesn't really look like the pinnacle of health."

Jaune gave a solemn nod.  "It's his tail," he murmured back.  "There was a bad accident with it, and it gives him bad lower back pain and...can carapace tails get arthritis?  If they can, he has it."  He began fishing out some tea and set some water to boil in a pot.  "This northern weather doesn't help it...my Semblance can only help so much for the tail injury, but it doesn't heal anything.  A couple of days with him in constant pain must have worn him out."  He went quiet as the water boiled, separating some of it into a teapot and then soaked a dish towel in the rest before wringing it out and wrapping a dry towel around it.  He carried the tea and the hot towel into the living room, kneeling next to Tyrian.  "How bad is it?"

Tyrian shifted a little, brow furrowed slightly.  "...it's unpleasant," he admitted. 

"Let me see, I've got a hot towel for it."  Jaune saw Tyrian's eyes flick back toward the kitchen.  "It's alright, they know about it."

Tyrian nodded and shrugged his coat off and turned to his side, jaw tightening as he slowly unfurled his tail from  his waist, the cricking of the plates louder than normal.  Jaune carefully put the hot towel around the base, feeling Tyrian stiffen slightly, and pushed out his semblance a bit to ease out the pain.

Mercury frowned, watching.  "...didn't know it was that bad," he remarked, seeing obvious discomforted pain flicker over Tyrian's face.  "You kept your tail wrapped for two days."

"And now I'm paying the price for it," Tyrian muttered, muscles slowly eased into relaxing.  "Oh to be in Vacuo again..."

"You'd just complain about sand in your plates," Jaune teased, letting up his semblance to let the heat from the towel finish the rest.  Tyrian gave a noncommittal grunt, pulling his coat over him.  Jaune sat back, seeing Adrian crawl over and eye the tail draped over the couch cushion curiously before reaching out to touch.

"No no, Adrien," Jaune said, scooping him up.  "No touching, okay?" 

Terra walked in to take Adrien up.  "...scorpions are poisonous, aren't they?" she asked delicately.

"Sure are," Qrow muttered into his tea, earning an elbow in the side from Ruby. 

Tyrian gave a small flippant wave.  "It's alright for him," he replied.  "The poison ducts are just about shot from my injury."  He curled the end of his tail up level with his face to examine it, frowning contemplatively.  "...though, admittedly the tip is still sharp.  Have you any wax I can nub it with?"

"No, but we can see about picking some up," Saphron put in.  "In any case, I wouldn't want him to accidentally hurt you if he pulled on it...he's outgrown hair-pulling for the most part, but if he sees a cord or a string or anything like that, he gets curious."  

In Terra's arms, Adrian looked put out at having been taken from the new object of interest, but seemed to understand that it wasn't something to fuss about.  Ren and Nora went to finish fixing sandwiches for everyone while Emerald went up to a bedroom and came back down with a box, handing it over to Mercury.  "For your legs," she said quietly.  "All that snow and cold couldn't be good for the finish."

Mercury took the box, looking through it with a nod; he'd been so relieved to be here he'd almost forgotten about his thighs hurting from the weather.  "Thanks," he replied, his hand trailing to his left thigh, where the pain was the strongest.  "...I'll need the bathroom for an hour."

She nodded quietly, hugging her knees.  "...you can ask for help," she murmured enough so only he could hear.  "Jaune's sisters are good people...and I can tell from your face that you've been through enough these past couple days."  She bit her lip.  "...how bad was it?"

He didn't answer, but the haunted gleam in his eyes was enough of an answer.  She didn't press the issue anymore, only reaching over to nab him a sandwich and give it to him.  The room delved into silence while everyone had lunch until Terra's scroll buzzed.  She shared a knowing look with Saphron and left the room to take the call.

"...is everything alright?" Blake asked.

"It's fine, Terra's a technician for the town's relay tower.  Unfortunately the military's radar system is also housed there."  She smiled at Adrian.  "Guess what's been on the fritz lately and who's getting falsely blamed?"

Terra peered from the corner of the room with a '100% done' look on her face.  "Me!" she whispered before returning to her call.

Half of the group looked relieved while a small handful -Jaune, Tyrian, Emerald, and Mercury- looked concerned.  "How long has it been glitching?" Jaune asked.  Saphron's brow furrowed slightly as she thought.  

"...about a week now," she said.  "It's a little out of the city, so naturally we have animals, small Grimm, and weather meddling with the tower, but we usually take care of animals and Grimm right off the bat, and the weather's actually been okay on the coast."  She shrugged.  "We're thinking it needs a little bit of an overhaul maintenance, but Atlaesian techs keep INSISTING their tech is fine and 'perfect'."

"Sounds about right," Weiss muttered into her tea.  The four concerned shared another look but put it aside for later.

"So, what's the plan for you guys?" Saphron asked, changing the subject.  

Ruby put down both of her sandwiches, smiling.  "We're hoping to talk to the Atlas air-base," she said.  "So we'll probably start there."  She saw Jaune, Ren, Emerald, and Nora wince a little.

"...we already tried that," Jaune said, his hand clenching slightly.  "...it didn't go super well."

"It sucked," Emerald piped up with a scowl.  "There's a lot of things I wanna call the commanding officer, but Adrian's here.  She was HORRIBLE."

"C'mon, it couldn't have been THAT bad," Yang piped up, getting looks from the four who went.  "...was it?"

"Imagine Weiss at the beginning of school, but a hundred times worse," Nora said seriously.

Weiss winced.  "...I can imagine it, and I can believe it," she remarked, then sighed.  "...I may have to pull the Schnee card."

"Our utmost condolences for doing so," Emerald intoned, earning at least a small lighthearted laugh to ease the mood.  

"First things first," Ruby said, sitting back hard.  "...I need a nap."

"Same," Yang replied.

"Ugh," Oscar said, already lying down on his side.

"Well, we have two spare bedrooms and down here," Saphron said, putting Adrian down on the carpet and standing.  "We only have one and a half bathrooms, but heating is free here so take all the time you need."

Everyone made quick work of a bathroom and sleeping arrangements; Mercury volunteered to go last since he needed extra time, and Tyrian already asleep on the couch had Qrow and Maria say they would stay downstairs to sleep.  RWBY would take one of the rooms while RBEN ("LEMN!" Emerald piped up only to have a pillow thrown into her face from Mercury) plus Oscar would take the other.

"It won't be a problem for me," Jaune said.  "I already took a few hours last night and a shower earlier."  Everyone divvied up to settle in and get working on bathing time while he tidied up the living room and kitchen, setting another pot to boil later for more heat on Tyrian's tail.  He came back with more tea for the adults and felt the top of Maria's cane touch his side to keep him from leaving.  "...um..."

"...you're not exactly normal, are you boy?" the elder asked, her mechanical eyes seeming to stare just as real as normal ones through him.  His jaw twitched slightly, feeling his tail curl around his waist a little tighter.

"...no," he said.  "I'm not."  He went quiet for a long moment until she lowered her cane, resting her hands on it contemplatively.

"I can't see as much as I used to when I had my eyes," she said quietly, "but there are some things I can still feel from my time as a Huntress.  And as a Silver-Eyed Warrior."  Her expression didn't change when Jaune withdrew a bare minimum.  "...how bad is it?" she asked.

Jaune rubbed his arm, looking away.  "...not as bad as it could be."  He let out a shaky sigh.  "...the fact that my sister knows and still thinks of me as her brother...it's helped a LOT since Tyrian wasn't here."  He looked out the window.  "...the peace of Argus also helps."

Maria nodded quietly.  "I see," she said, glancing at Tyrian.  "He spoke well of you on the ride here.  Cried at least three times, I think.  I knew this group was...damaged, in their own way...but I couldn't imagine what you've all truly been through...or that it was actually possible."  She tipped her head with an air of curiosity.  "...I'm curious, however...should we make it to Atlas and put that item where it needs to be...what will you do then?"

Jaune quietly sat down, wringing his hands.  "...I don't know," he said honestly.  "Tyrian and I...we've talked about it a little.  It would be ideal to keep traveling with the team, but..."  He shook his head.  "...it's not realistic.  For everyone's safety and possibly my sanity, it would probably be Tyrian and I for the most part."  He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back against the chair.  "...even now that they're here, I still miss my team.  I miss being IN a team.  And through no fault of my own, I'm not even sure I'm fully mortal anymore."  A grey-tinted tear flicked in the corner of his eye.  "...so what happens then?  The longer I live, the worse this will get."

The two were quiet for a moment.  "Doing the best you can with what little time you have left...more than a few in this party knows that feeling," Maria said.  "I'm old, Oscar is an avatar for someone set to overtake him, and the life of a Huntsman or Huntress is never guaranteed a long one.  By all means, no one is obligated to do anything about any of this.  But putting in a fight for another tomorrow...I think it's a nice life to have worth living."

The corners of Jaune's lips twitched slightly, his eyes softening.  "...yeah," he said.  "It is."  He glanced upward when he heard Yang and Weiss fret over whether or not the shampoo in the bathroom would be enough for them.  "...this could take awhile."

Maria snorted.  "Let them worry over simple things while they can," she replied, looking grimly wistful.  "If that commanding officer is who I think it is, they'll need all the comfort they can get today."

Jaune stared at her for a moment.  "...cashew lady?" he guessed, smiling when Maria burst out laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the lightness now, fun times once everyone knows the truth later.


End file.
